India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Day 1: Statistical highlights including Ishant's best haul

Statistical highlights of the first day`s play in the second and final cricket Test between India and New Zealand here Friday.

Wellington: Statistical highlights of the first day`s play in the second and final cricket Test between India and New Zealand here Friday.
Ishant Sharma (6/51) has recorded his career-best performance in Test, his second instance of five wickets in an innings vs New Zealand and his fifth overall. Ishant`s previous best figures in a Test innings were six for 55 vs West Indies at Bridgetown in June 2011. His performance is the best by an Indian pacer in a Test innings in New Zealand, surpassing his own figures of six for 134 at Auckland in the first Test of the present series. Ishant became the first Indian fast bowler to claim six wickets in a Test innings twice in New Zealand. No other Indian pacer has accomplished the feat even once. Ishant is the eighth Indian bowler and the fourth seamer to complete 100 wickets or more away from home in Tests. The eight bowlers are Anil Kumble (269), Kapil Dev (215), Zaheer Khan (202), Harbhajan Singh (148), Bishan Singh Bedi (129), Javagal Srinath (128), Ishant Sharma (102) and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (100). With his tally of 15 wickets (ave. 14.20) in three innings, Ishant now holds a record by an Indian medium pacer in a Test series vs New Zealand, outstripping the 13 wickets each captured by three bowlers -- Ramakant Desai in 1964-65; Javagal Srinath in 1999-2000 and Zaheer Khan in 2008-09. Ishant became the second Indian speedster to take five wickets or more in an innings twice in New Zealand in Tests. Zaheer holds an Indian record for registering three five-wicket hauls in Tests in New Zealand -- two at Wellington and one at Hamilton. Mohammed Shami (4/70) has recorded his best bowling figures in an innings overseas -- his second best in a Test innings behind the 5 for 47 against the West Indies at Kolkata in November last year. His previous best figures vs New Zealand were three for 37 in the second innings at Auckland in the first Test of the current rubber. Shami took his tally to 25 wickets (ave. 25.88) in his first six Tests. His tally includes three instances of four wickets or more in an innings. Zaheer Khan, for the first time in a completed innings, could not take a single wicket against New Zealand in New Zealand. For the first time in Tests, Shikhar Dhawan has recorded consecutive innings of fifty-plus, scoring 115 at Auckland and 71 not out at Wellington. Dhawan, thanks to his brilliant unbeaten 71, has completed his 500 runs in seven Tests, aggregating 505 in ten innings at an average of 56.11, including two centuries and a fifty. Bradley-John Watling has registered his fifth duck in Tests -- his first vs India. Jimmy Neesham (33 off 35 balls) has registered strike rate of 94.28 -- the best by a New Zealand number eight batsman on Test debut apart from the highest by any New Zealand batsman on Test debut against India (minimum qualification 30). All ten wickets have been claimed by Indian fast bowlers in a Test innings twelve times. The Wellington Test is the first instance when they captured all ten wickets in a Test innings vs New Zealand. The last instance when all ten wickets in an innings for India were captured by speedsters was in the Ahmedabad Test vs West Indies in November 1983 -- Kapil Dev (9/83) and Balwinder Sandhu (1/45).