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Would this be the greatest test series win of all time if NZ win?

S

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
capt_Luffy said:
A few points I would like to comment on; Tendulkar played in 2005 BGT from midway through, as he was called after a batting collapse, when he was noway near fit enough. Sehwag was great, but both Laxman and Dravid were poor. Now, on the bowling, it's just thrash, like complete utter thrash. Kumble was great, but no one else. Zaheer was before his peak and he had a horrible home record, Harbhajan was poor as always and Irfan has a career average of ****ing 45 vs non minnows. Also, this team had a much better top order, but the tail is relatively mild. Pant - Jadeja - Ashwin are a significant push. Like for batting only, in that series Sehwag was great, Sachin was injured, Laxman and Dravid flopped and Ganguly was in decline. On paper better batting, but hardly much better. Circa 2018-19 Kohli, Pujara and Rahane are around to Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly back then; while Sehwag was superior to Rohit, I can't say that about his partner and Agarwal/Rahul. Overall the openers are equal. Now down the order, Pant is a huge upgrade on Yuvraj, Jadeja plenty big on Patel and Ashwin equal to Pathan. So yeah, much worse bowling and hardly better batting.
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Dravid was in the middle of a golden run. But both he and Laxman were completely stiffled by the tight Aussie bowling. You have to give credit to the Aussies rather than trashing the lineup. Objectively, India in the 2000s had a better batting lineup and much better players of spin to, which is relevant if Warne and MacGill are around.

If you are going to judge them based on form, how can you say Harbi was poor if he had an ATG series in 2001 and plenty of wickets in 2004 too?
 
HeathDavisSpeed

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
SteveNZ said:
You could absolutely be right. People would say 1985 in Australia, but if you look at the Australian XI, it's not exactly star-studded
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People are likely to say Australia in 1985 for a while longer, I'd say. Simply because a larger proportion of people saw that win and for your non-cricket fan Kiwi, a win over Australia is still likely to mean more.

It'll be interesting to see what influence this result has on the growing Indian diaspora in New Zealand. Often, India matches here (much like England matches) can feel a bit like away games due to the large numbers of Indian fans. But then, the future NZ team might be more dependent on players from backgrounds like Ravindra. Would this result get some of those Indian fans converting to NZ fans? Or at least seeing them as near-equals for fandom?
 
straw man

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Honestly this has to rank pretty highly in surprising victories in cricket history, given the relevant standing of both sides coming into the series. It's a valid comparison to India's 2021 win in Australia, though in shear unlikeliness of victory I feel like NZ has pretty much done India's 4th-test win in Brisbane twice.
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
It's also that rare NZ team who look better on paper than is actually the case atm. Lots of pretty averages and generational talents, and not a lot of recent success or age on their side.
 
capt_Luffy

capt_Luffy

Cricketer Of The Year
subshakerz said:
Dravid was in the middle of a golden run. But both he and Laxman were completely stiffled by the tight Aussie bowling. You have to give credit to the Aussies rather than trashing the lineup. Objectively, India in the 2000s had a better batting lineup and much better players of spin to, which is relevant if Warne and MacGill are around.

If you are going to judge them based on form, how can you say Harbi was poor if he had an ATG series in 2001 and plenty of wickets in 2004 too?
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Because 2001 was 3 years before 2004??? And the comparisons I posted was also of those players on form, or else I wouldn't had compared a struggling Dravid with peak Kohli.
 
Coronis

Coronis

International Coach
tbh I think Pakistan’s win over England is far worse. England completely self destructed after dominating the first test. Hilarious from an outside perspective though.
 
R

RMBolton

U19 Debutant
HeathDavisSpeed said:
People are likely to say Australia in 1985 for a while longer, I'd say. Simply because a larger proportion of people saw that win and for your non-cricket fan Kiwi, a win over Australia is still likely to mean more.

It'll be interesting to see what influence this result has on the growing Indian diaspora in New Zealand. Often, India matches here (much like England matches) can feel a bit like away games due to the large numbers of Indian fans. But then, the future NZ team might be more dependent on players from backgrounds like Ravindra. Would this result get some of those Indian fans converting to NZ fans? Or at least seeing them as near-equals for fandom?
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And then you've got the folks who just have Australia on a pedestal. I've met a few of them, who don't rate the current generation at all because of their failures against Australia. They legit believe Fleming &co are better than this lot - now, depriving that Australian team even a single win in a home series is pretty badass, but still.
Hopefully, this win silenced them a little (ironically, Pat Cummins-style).
 
Days of Grace

Days of Grace

International Captain
According to my points exchange system, this IS the greatest series upset of all-time.

In the current series, New Zealand were rated 104.45 and India 127.87. Add on 5 points to India for playing at home and take away 5 points from New Zealand for playing away and the difference is a massive 33.42.

This just beats Sri Lanka beating South Africa away in 2019/20. The difference then was 33.29.

As an aside, Bangladesh's win in New Zealand in 2022 must be the greatest upset of all-time. The difference at that time was 61.50!
 
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