Delhi: The New Zealand tour has been counted as one of the toughest overseas cricket tours for India, considering the conditions and weather. That's why even the greats have been seen struggling to score runs and take wickets. Isn't it strange that, keeping the New Zealand tour in mind, there is an interesting omission in the record books: no Indian captain has scored an ODI century in New Zealand so far. Because of this, this time's tour is very special and it can become a record.

In the upcoming ODI series in New Zealand, Shubman Gill will lead the Indian team in the first three matches and Shreyas Iyer in the last two matches and both are among the most successful batsmen of white ball cricket. Will they change this record?

However, Indian captains have not lagged behind in scoring centuries abroad in ODIs and in every major country where Team India has played, some Indian captain has scored a century in ODIs. There are many big batsmen in this list like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma but this record was not made in New Zealand.

So far, India's ODI captains in New Zealand (by match count): M Azharuddin 19, MS Dhoni 12, Sourav Ganguly 7, Virat Kohli 6, Shikhar Dhawan 3, Rohit Sharma 2, Gundappa Vishwanath, Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar and S Venkataraghavan 1 match each. The highest score by the Indian captain there is 85* which was made by Dhoni. Dhoni scored maximum 6 fifties there but did not convert any of them into 100.

See the list of countries in which the Indian captain has scored a century in ODI:

In India: Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill

In Bangladesh: Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli

in South Africa: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli

In Sri Lanka: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli

In West Indies: Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli

In UAE: Mohammad Azharuddin, Rohit Sharma

in Australia: Virat Kohli

In England: Kapil Dev

in Pakistan: ms dhoni

In Zimbabwe: Virat Kohli

In Kenya: Sourav Ganguly

In New Zealand: nobody

Therefore, the upcoming series is an opportunity for Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer to create a record that no Indian ODI captain before them has been able to achieve. If anyone scores a century among these two, it will not only be his personal achievement, but will also end a long-running drought (of not scoring a century).

Well, let us tell you that Shreyas Shreyas has already scored an ODI century in New Zealand. On 5 February 2020, he scored 103 runs against the host team in Hamilton, but at that time he was playing as a player in the team, not as captain. Now, coincidentally, he is getting a chance to captain India in the last two ODIs and he can create this record while playing in a new role in the same New Zealand. Similarly, Shubman Gill has already scored an ODI century as captain in India and now New Zealand can also add his captaincy record to the list.

As written above, this is not an easy challenge as the conditions in New Zealand are a difficult test for the batsmen as the ball moves from the seam, swings and the bounce also changes. In such a situation, the responsibility of a captain increases further. When Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer will take command of the team in the match, this record will definitely be in their mind. It must also be realized that before him, greats like Azharuddin, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar could not make this record.