The first Test match between India and New Zealand in Kanpur is moving to a decisive stage as the visitors came all guns blazing in the opening session of Day 4. One Kiwi bowler who made the most impact was Tim Southee with the new. The right-arm seamer has become just the second Kiwi bowler to pick 50 wickets on Indian soil in all formats.
After dismissing Mayank Agarwal and Ravindra Jadeja in the same over, he reached the milestone and now shares the record with former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori. Jadeja’s wicket in the 20th over was his 50th on Indian soil. This was Southee’s seventh wicket of the match.
In Test matches, the right-arm bowler has managed to take 19 wickets, which is 12 short of Vettori who took 31. When it comes to limited-overs, Southee edges Vettori as the 32-year-old who has taken 25 wickets in ODI cricket while former New Zealand captain Vettori managed only 19. Interestingly, Vettori never played a T20I game on Indian soil whereas Southee managed to take six wickets in the shortest format of the game.
The former New Zealand skipper has 50 wickets from 29 innings on Indian soil. Vettori played seven Tests and 16 ODI matches on Indian soil while Southee currently has played in 27 innings across all formats; this includes seven innings in four Test matches, 16 ODI matches and four T20I matches.
Southee’s next wicket in the Kanpur Test will take him above Vettori on 51. Interestingly, both Vettori and Southee have taken fifers at the current venue as the pace bowler managed to take five wickets in first innings. It now remains to be seen how Indian batters respond to the lethal pace attack at Kane Williamson’s disposal with still five seasons to play in the match.
Southee surpasses Kumble, enters top 5 list
The 32-year-old became the second Kiwi bowler to take 50 Test wickets against India in the longest format. With Jadeja's wicket, Southee has 51 Test wickets in 10 innings against India. He also surpassed the all-time second-highest wicket-taker Anil Kumble's wicket tally in India vs New Zealand Tests (50 wickets). Southee is now second to only Richard Hadlee, who has 65 wickets from 14 Tests.
