The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) recently hired the services of the New Zealand right-arm pacer, Jacob Duffy, during the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction in Abu Dhabi. The Kiwi star will come into the franchise as the perfect replacement for Josh Hazlewood, who, despite being the premier pacer of the side, has been struggling with constant injuries.

Jacob Duffy entered his name in the history books by breaking the former legendary pacer, Richard Hadlee’s record by taking the most wickets for the Blackcaps in a calendar year. The 31-year-old fast bowler dismissed a total of 81 batters for the Kiwi side in the ongoing year 2025 in 36 matches played across the three formats.

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Hadlee, on the other hand, finished with 79 wickets in 23 matches for the New Zealand side in 1985. Duffy, who made his debut for the Blackcaps on August 07, against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, finished with 25 wickets in four red-ball games in 2025. He picked up a five-wicket haul in each of the three Tests played against the West Indies in December and bagged the player of the series award.

New RCB star Jacob Duffy celebrates massive record

In addition to the 25 Test wickets, Duffy has also bagged 21 batters in 11 ODIs and 35 batters in 21 T20Is played this year. No other bowler around the circle has picked up more wickets than him in 2025, and it’s nearly certain that he will end the year as the highest wicket-taker.

Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani is the second leading international wicket-taker in 2025 with 65 wickets in 31 clashes, while New Zealand’s Matt Henry is in third place in the table with 65 wickets in 27 clashes. Mitchell Starc will play another Test, but he won’t be able to overtake Duffy, having 54 wickets in 13 games at the moment.

The world record for the most wickets in a calendar year is in the name of former Sri Lanka spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, who dismissed 136 opposition batters for them in 2001. He also holds the second position on the record with 128 wickets in 40 encounters.

New Zealand’s Glen Phillips is always known for showing some fantastic fielding skills in the game. Whether he stands at the mid-on, mid-off, or point or backward point region, Philips gives his all and shows energy to make a difference in the field for the Blackcaps. Such an incident took place during the ongoing 3rd Test match between New Zealand and West Indies at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.

The Incident took place on the 4th day of the Test match when Ajaz Patel bowled a delivery away from the off-stump of West Indies’ number 10 batter, Jayden Seales. The left handed bat look to smash the ball for a boundary true made of region but Philips was attentive as he dived in the air to stop the ball with his right hand.

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That was an excellent feeling from the queue as the ball was going with full force, and Philips was quite a way away from the ball. His teammates clapped for the top effort from Phillips. Overall, it has been a superb Test match for both sides.

Glenn Phillips shows acrobatic fielding skill during 3rd NZ vs WI Test

Winning the toss, West Indies captain Roston Chase decided to bowl first. But perhaps he did expect the home opening pair of Devon Conway and Tom Latham to post a massive stand of 323 runs for the first wicket, with the latter smashing 227 runs in 367 balls with the help of 31 boundaries. New Zealand ended with 575 runs in their first innings.

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However, the West Indies showed some great fight in their first innings with the bat as Brendon King celebrated his half-century while Kevin Hodge remained unbeaten on 123 runs with the help of 15 boundaries. Some of the middle-order batters for the tourists got starts but failed to convert them into big scores as they bundled out for 420.

In reply, New Zealand blasted their way to 306 in just 54 overs with both Latham and Conway notching their respective centuries in the second innings to give the bowlers enough chance to pick 10 wickets in the fourth innings. But the two Caribbean openers saw the tricky 16 overs beautifully without losing any wickets heading into the final day of the series.

When New Zealand set a massive target of over 520 runs in the fourth innings of the opening Test of the three-match series against West Indies at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, it was supposed to be a comfortable victory for the Kiwis. A team that managed only 167 runs in the first innings of the game was never going to chase down the target or bat for nearly two days. 

Moreover, it was the same team that got 37 in their entire innings during the third pink-ball Test at home against Australia at Kingston Park in Jamaica. The visitors for this game against the Blackcaps lost their top three for 26 runs. But Shai Hope and Justin Greaves put up a massive stand of 196 runs in 382 deliveries for the fourth wicket.

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Roston Chase, the skipper, ended up with just four runs, while Shai Hope, the veteran of the red-ball side, making his comeback into the format in the last home series, smashed a fine knock of 140 runs in 234 balls with the help of 15 boundaries and two sixes at a strike rate of nearly 60.

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By the end of the fourth day’s play, Hope reckoned that they would try to go for the victory even if they got a narrow chance of winning. Greaves and Kemar Roach celebrated a fine unbeaten stand of 180 runs for the seventh wicket to end the game on a draw. The former clubbed a fine unbeaten knock of 202 runs in 388 balls with the help of 19 boundaries.

On the other hand, Roach, on his 86th red-ball clash, remained undefeated on 58 runs in 233 balls at a strike rate of under 25 with eight boundaries to his name. West Indies ended up 457/6 in 163.3 overs of the fourth innings.

The Kiwis were two bowlers short in the fourth innings. Nathan Smith was ruled out of the contest from the middle of the progression, while Matt Henry didn’t return with a calf strain after his 11 overs in the fourth innings.

ODI centuries are hard to come by these days, with most of the top-order players aiming to contribute only in aggressive shots from the start of the innings. Centuries don’t hold the same edge for respective teams if they don’t come at a particular rate, and the teams end up losing the contest. In the recent clash between the West Indies and New Zealand, Shai Hope created a huge feat.

During his century, the West Indies wicket-keeper batter and the captain of the side became only the fifth batter in the world cricket to register centuries against all the Test-playing nations. It also has the former Australia captain, Ricky Ponting, along with India's Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa's Hashim Amla in the side. 

It's an art to score ODI centuries. Crafting to the condition of the surface against the pacers or the spinners in various situations of the game, with several changes of rules and reverse swing coming into the equation, batters need to tackle various obstcales for the centuries. Also, if the batters come late in the department, they have to keep going with the higher strike rate to help the team's score. 

Let’s take a look at the list of players to score ODI centuries against all Test-playing Nations ft. Shai Hope

1. Ricky Ponting (Australia)

The former Australian top-order batter and the captain of the side, Ricky Ponting, was a true ace when it came to piling up on the records for his team. Through his legendary career, Ponting became the first batter in the 50-over format to record centuries against all the Test-playing nations in the ODI format.

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The 50-year-old ended his ODI career with 13704 runs in 365 innings. The right-handed batter recorded this feat at an average of 42.03 and a strike rate of 80.39 with the help of 30 centuries and 82 half-centuries at the best score of 164 runs. It was an incredibly successful career for the veteran, who won several World Cups as captain for the Australian side.

2. Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa)

The flamboyant South Africa batter, Herschelle Gibbs, may have had his ups and downs in his ODI career, but he became the second member of the ODI side after Ricky to smash ODI centuries against all the Test-playing nations of his time. The hard-hitting batter reached the milestone against England in Cape Town more than a couple of decades ago.

Gibbs, who scored five of his 21 centuries against the West Indies and Australia, smacked 8094 runs in the 50-over format for the Rainbow Nation in 240 innings at an average of 36.13 and a strike rate of 83.26. The right-handed batter celebrated 21 centuries and 37 half-centuries in this process at the best score of 175 runs.

3. Sachin Tendulkar (India)

Is there any list of records in world cricket without Sachin Tendulkar? The cricketing God has found his name in possibly all the formats and lists of the game. The former captain of the Indian cricket side was the third to reach the milestone of reaching centuries in the ODI cricket against all the Test-playing nations. He celebrated his 100th international century against Bangladesh in 2012.

Tendulkar is the leading run-getter of the ODI format. He smashed 18426 runs in 452 innings of the 50-over format at an average of 44.83 and a strike rate of 86.23 with the help of 49 centuries and 96 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 200 runs. Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries was breached only by Virat Kohli during the ODI World Cup 2023 semifinal against New Zealand in Mumbai.

4. Hashim Amla (South Africa)

Hashim Amla is another Protea batter who used to break the ODI records for fun. Opening the batting for the Rainbow Nation, Amla was superb against both the pacers and spinners with the bat in hand. One of his exceptional records was to score centuries against all the Test-playing nations of the game. He completed the record in November 2014 when he got a ton down under.

The 42-year-old Natal-born batter nailed 8113 runs in 178 innings of the ODI format at an average of around 50 and a strike rate of 88.39 with the help of 27 centuries and 39 half-centuries at the best score of 159 runs.

5. Shai Hope (West Indies)

The new entry of the list is West Indies’ captain of the ODI format, Shai Hope. In the first innings of the second clash at McLean Park in Napier, Hope celebrated the record by coming out to bat at number four. The right-handed batter nailed a fine record of unbeaten 109 runs with the help of 13 boundaries and four sixes at a strike rate of 157.97 in 69 deliveries as the West Indies recorded 247 in their allotted 34 overs.

Hope now has collected 6097 runs in 82 innings of the ODI format at an average of nearly 50 and a strike rate of nearly 80 with the help of 19 centuries and 30 half-centuries at the best score of 170.