India suffered another heartbreaking defeat to New Zealand as Virat Kohli’s team lost by eight wickets in Dubai to dent their chances of reaching the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

After a 10-wicket defeat in their tournament opener to Pakistan, India faced a daunting challenge against the Blackcaps to give themselves a good shot at qualifying. It was a virtual eliminator for both teams, as even New Zealand had lost their opener to Pakistan.

But for India, a match against the Kiwis was always going to bring added pressure due to the two teams’ head-to-head record in ICC men’s events.

In a tournament where chasing had been established as a clear advantage, India lost the toss and were put in to bat first. And things never really took off for them as New Zealand picked wickets consistently.

With just 111 runs needed to win, Kane Williamson and Co got the job done with eight wickets in hand and 33 balls to spare.

T20 World Cup, IND vs NZ as it happened: New Zealand thrash India by 8 wickets

“I don’t think we were brave enough with bat or ball,” said Kohli after the loss. “We didn’t have much to defend but we weren’t brave when we walked out to field. When you play for the Indian cricket team you have a lot of expectations - not just from fans, but players as well.”

The defeat would have surely brought back bitter memories for Indian cricket fans, memories of their team’s losses to New Zealand in ICC events. In fact, the last time India defeated New Zealand in an ICC men’s multi-team event was at the 2003 ODI World Cup in South Africa.

Winner Margin City Match date
ODI WC NZ 4 wickets Manchester 14 Jun 1975
ODI WC NZ 8 wickets Leeds 13 Jun 1979
ODI WC IND 16 runs Bengaluru 14 Oct 1987
ODI WC IND 9 wickets Nagpur 31 Oct 1987
ODI WC NZ 4 wickets Dunedin 12 Mar 1992
ODI WC NZ 5 wickets Nottingham 12 Jun 1999
ICC Knockout (FINAL) NZ 4 wickets Nairobi  15 Oct 2000
ODI WC IND 7 wickets Centurion 14 Mar 2003
World T20 NZ 10 runs Johannesburg 16 Sep 2007
World T20 NZ 47 runs Nagpur 15 Mar 2016
ODI WC (League) Abandoned - Nottingham 13 Jun 2019
2019 ODI WC (SF) NZ 18 runs Manchester 9 Jul 2019
WTC NZ 10 wickets Wellington 21 Feb 2020
WTC NZ 7 wickets Christchurch 29 Feb 2020
WTC Final NZ 8 wickets Southampton 18 Jun 2021
T20 WC NZ 8 wickets Dubai 31 Oct 2021

Here’s a look at five times New Zealand broke India’s heart in ICC events:

2000 ICC Knockout Final (Nairobi)

Asked to bat first, India put on an impressive opening stand thanks to Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. While the skipper went on to score 117, Tendulkar got 69 in the 141-run first-wicket partnership. But it all went downhill from there as the middle order collapsed and India were restricted to 264/6 in their 50 overs.

In reply, New Zealand were in all sorts of trouble at 132/5 with Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad leading the charge with the ball. However, all-rounder Chris Cairns ended up smashing an unbeaten 102 off 113 batting at No 5 to take the Kiwis home with four wickets in hand and just two balls to spare. Chris Harris, batting at No 7, also contributed a valuable 46 off 72 for New Zealand.

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2016 World T20 (Nagpur)

New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first but their innings never really took off. Corey Anderson top scored with 34 off 42 as India restricted the visitors to 126/7 in 20 overs. Ashwin Ravichandran, Ashish Nehra, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Suresh Raina picked up a wicket each and delivered economical spells.

It was expected to be a straightforward chase for India but it ended up being a disaster. Barring skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30 off 30), Kohli (23 off 27) and Ashwin (10 off 10), not a single Indian batter got a double digit score. The hosts ended up getting bowled out for 79 in 18.1 overs to suffer an embarrassing 47-run defeat.

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2019 ODI World Cup Semifinal (Manchester)

New Zealand batted first again and lost Martin Guptill with just one run on the board. Henry Nicholls stuck around for longer but it was the third wicket partnership between Williamson (67 off 95) and Ross Taylor (74 off 90) that held the innings together.

The Kiwi lower order failed to fire and they were restricted to 239/8 in their 50 overs. The interesting part, though, was that the innings was suspended after 46.1 overs due to rain and had to resume the next day.

When India came out to bat on the second day of the match, the conditions were a lot more overcast and the New Zealand pacers made full use of it. India’s top three batters – KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Kohli all scored one run each as India suffered a sensational collapse.

Rishabh Pant and Pandya then got 32 runs each, while Dhoni and Jadeja hit 50 and 77 runs respectively. But that wasn’t enough as India were bowled out for 221 in 49.3 overs and lost by 18 runs. Dhoni being run-out by inches towards the end was a bitter pill for Indian fans to swallow.

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2021 World Test C’ship Final (Southampton)

The final of the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship was another rain-marred contest and another heartbreaking defeat for India against New Zealand.

India lost the toss, yet again, and were put in to bat first. All-rounder Kyle Jamieson delivered a superb spell of 5/31 as India could only manage a total of 217. But Kohli and Co fought back with the ball to remain in the contest. Mohammed Shami led the charge with a four-for as New Zealand were bowled out for 249 in their first innings, with a lead of 32 runs.

However, India suffered another batting collapse in their second innings to be bowled out for just 170 runs. Rohit scored 30 at the top of the order while Pant top-scored with 41, but Kiwi pacers Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Jamieson and Neil Wagner were relentless in their attack.

Needing just 139 runs to win, New Zealand rode on another fine, unbeaten partnership between Williamson (52* off 89) and Taylor (47* off 100) to become champions.

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2021 T20 World Cup (Dubai)

Boult and Ish Sodhi shared five wickets to restrict India to 110/7 after being invited to bat first in the Super 12 clash in Dubai. The New Zealand pace bowlers kept coming at the Indian batters as Southee got KL Rahul walking back for 18 while Sharma fell to Sodhi for 14.

Sodhi also dismissed Kohli for nine after the captain mistimed a shot to be caught at long on. Hardik Pandya, who made 23, and Ravindra Jadeja, 26 not out, put up some resistance with a partnership of 24 that was broken by Boult who struck twice in his final over.

In reply, Guptill fell to Bumrah who returned figures of 2/19. Daryl Mitchell, who made 49, took on the Indian bowlers and added 72 runs for the second wicket with skipper Williamson. The opener departed with New Zealand needing 15 and Devon Conway joined Williamson to complete the formalities.

UPDATE: On Sunday, 7 November New Zealand defeated Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi that officially brought India’s campaign to a close in the Super 12 stage.