New Zealand vs Australia, 2021: First T20I - Statistical Preview

Australia and New Zealand will meet in the first T20I of the five-match series on 22nd February at Hagley Oval, Christchurch. Both teams will fight it out to give their best in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in India later this year. 

Australia have included an uncapped trio of wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Phillipe, teenage spinner Tanveer Sangha, and pacer Riley Meredith in their 18-man T20I squad. They will be without their regular stars like David Warner, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith in this series.  

Kyle Jamieson who was bought at a massive price of 15 crores in the recently concluded IPL auction will be looking to make some impact in the series. He will be part of the pace quartet with other bowlers being Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Hamish Bennett.

Let’s look at important stats and numbers before the start of the first T20I between Australia and New Zealand:

Head to Head record: Australia has been dominant in the T20Is played against New Zealand. In the 9 matches played between two teams, Australia have won 7 and New Zealand have won only 1 while the other match ended in a tie.

5 – Australia have never lost a T20I match in New Zealand. They have won 4 of the 5 matches they have played here while 1 has resulted in a Tie.

117 – Australian captain Aaron Finch has scored 2149 runs in T20Is at an average of 37.7 and strike rate of 154.05. He needs 117 more runs to go past David Warner and become the highest T20I run-getter for Australia.

3 – Aaron Finch has hit 97 sixes in his T20I career so far. He needs 3 more sixes to become the first Australian to complete 100 T20I sixes and sixth in the world to do so.

153 – Kiwi opener Martin Guptill needs 152 runs in the series to go past Rohit Sharma in terms of T20I runs and become the second-highest run-getter after Virat Kohli. Guptill has scored 2621 runs in the shortest format at a strike rate of 134.61.

4 – Martin Guptill has hit 124 sixes in the 20-over format. If he hits 4 more maximums, he will surpass Rohit Sharma and top the list of players hitting the most sixes in T20Is.

3 – Kiwi pacer Tim Southee has 87 wickets to his name in the shortest format. He needs 3 more wickets to go past Rashid Khan and become the fourth highest wicket-taker in T20Is.

22 – Kane Williamson has scored 978 runs in home T20Is. He will become the fourth player in the world to complete 1000 runs at home once he scores 22 more runs.

29 – Australian Pacer Jhye Richardson will be making his T20I comeback after almost 2 years. He picked most wickets (29) in Big Bash League this season and would want to continue the same form in international cricket as well.