08 April,2009 01:09 PM IST | | PTI
Opener Gautam Gambhir stood heads and shoulders above his fellow and rival willow-wielders with a whopping 445 runs, while Harbhajan Singh led the bowlers' chart with 16 wickets in India's first Test series triumph in New Zealand in 41 years.
Gambhir averaged 89, scoring two centuries and a fifty to be the top-scorer of the three-match series, which India won 1-0. His highest was the 167-run knock that he hit in the second innings of the drawn third Test.
Sachin Tendulkar was a distant second with 344 runs at an average of little over 68. The veteran right-hander scored a hundred and a couple of fifties.
New Zealand depended heavily on Jesse Ryder to score and he didn't disappoint averaging 65 for his 327 runs that included a double-hundred. The mercurial right-hander was the hosts' top-scorer in the series followed by Ross Taylor, who contributed 322 runs at an average of 64. Taylor struck two hundreds.
Rahul Dravid the next highest scorer, accumulating 314 runs at an average of 62 after scoring four fifties during the series.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was laid low by a back strain during the second Test, also had a fairly decent outing with the bat, averaging 77 for his 155 runs in the two matches he played.
Meanwhile, Harbhajan's 16 scalps, that included a six-wicket haul in the third Test, were the most by a bowler in the series.
Kiwi pacer Chris Martin was second with 14 wickets but coming at an average of 32, they were a tad too expensive.
India batting averages:
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50
Gautam Gambhir 3 6 1 445 167 89.00 47.04 2 1 MS Dhoni 2 3 1 155 56 77.50 52.54 0 2 VVS Laxman 3 5 1 295 124 73.75 51.12 1 2 SR Tendulkar 3 5 0 344 160 68.80 61.31 1 2 R Dravid 3 6 1 314 83 62.80 37.51 0 4 Z Khan 3 4 2 110 51 55.00 103.77 0 1 Yuvraj Singh 3 5 1 125 54 31.25 68.68 0 1 V Sehwag 3 5 0 140 48 28.00 112.00 0 0 M Patel 3 3 2 24 15 24.00 70.58 0 0 Harbhajan Singh 3 4 0 94 60 23.50 78.99 0 1 I Sharma 3 3 0 24 18 8.00 42.10 0 0 D Karthik 1 1 0 6 6 6.00 19.35 0 0.
India bowling averages:
Mat Inns Overs Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave
Harbhajan Singh 3 5 147.4 342 16 6/63 7/102 21.37 S Tendulkar 3 1 9.0 45 2 2/45 2/45 22.50 Z Khan 3 5 115.3 400 13 5/65 7/122 30.76 I Sharma 3 5 94.2 334 8 4/73 4/135 41.75 M Patel 3 5 84.0 290 6 3/60 5/120 48.33 Yuvraj Singh 3 4 22.3 84 1 1/11 1/11 84.00
New Zealand batting averages:
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50
J Ryder 3 5 0 327 201 65.40 61.58 2 0 R Taylor 3 5 0 322 151 64.40 60.98 2 0 D Vettori 3 5 1 220 118 55.00 70.06 1 1 B McCullum 3 5 0 232 115 46.40 65.35 1 1 M Guptill 3 5 0 136 49 27.20 55.96 0 0 J Franklin 3 5 0 130 52 26.00 34.12 0 1 I O'Brien 3 5 2 61 19 20.33 50.83 0 0 D Flynn 2 4 0 79 67 19.75 33.90 0 1 T McIntosh 3 5 0 60 32 12.00 31.91 0 0 T Southee 1 2 0 19 16 9.50 47.50 0 0.
New Zealand bowling averages:
Mat Inns Overs Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave
C Martin 3 6 134.1 458 14 4/98 7/168 32.71 J Ryder 3 5 33.0 89 2 1/3 1/24 44.50 J Patel 1 2 64.0 180 4 2/60 4/180 45.00 I O'Brien 3 5 125.5 452 9 3/103 4/189 50.22 D Vettori 3 5 136.4 366 7 2/45 3/121 52.28 T Southee 1 2 30.0 152 2 2/94 2/152 76.00 K Mills 1 2 24.2 119 1 1/98 1/119 119.00.
