4 Defeats In 4 Games: New Zealand are India's new nemesis in ICC tournaments after Wellington Test loss

World No. 1 India dropped points for the first time in the ongoing ICC Test Championship after they suffered a 10-wicket loss against New Zealand on Tuesday.

The BlackCaps needed three days and 79 minutes to seal the first Test and go 1-0 in the two-Test series. With the Wellington win, New Zealand have now beaten Team India in four straight ICC encounters, starting with the T20 World Cup match in 2007.

New Zealand were the only side to defeat the eventual champions, India, at the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. The Kiwis had won the close match by 10 runs in the group stage.

Their next ICC meeting happened nine years later at the T20 World Cup 2016. India were the hosts and were considered favourites ahead of their group fixture against the Kiwis. MS Dhoni and Co did a fantastic job when they restricted the opponents to 126 for 7 in 20 overs. However, New Zealand's spin trio of Mitchell Santner, Nathan McCullum and Ish Sodhi shared six wickets between them to bowl out India cheaply for 79 runs.

India's most heartbreaking loss to New Zealand in an ICC tournament took place last year at the Cricket World Cup semi-final. The match went on for two days due to rain. Once again, it was the batting department that let India down despite their target being as low as 240 runs. It was still anybody's game until the run-out of India's finisher, Dhoni. Seven months have passed since then and the former Indian skipper is yet to return to action in the Indian colours.

The recent 10-wicket loss in the first Test was India's four straight defeat to New Zealand in an ICC tournament. With totals of 165 and 191, Kohli and Co were never really in the match as they were outdone by Basin Reserve's tricky bounce. Among the Indians, only Mayank Agarwal managed to score a fifty, which he did in the second innings. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was the top-scorer of the Test for his knock of 153-ball 89.

India, who have not won a series on New Zealand soil since 2009, will be desperate to win the second Test to at least draw the two-match Test series.