Gambhir, Bhajji stars of India's NZ series triumph

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.

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.

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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.