Daniel Luca Vettori ONZM is a New Zealand cricket player who was the youngest male player to have represented New Zealand in Test cricket, making his debut in February 1997 at the age of 18. He captained New Zealand between 2007 and 2011 and is New Zealand's most-capped Test cricketer and One Day International cricketer, with 112 Test caps and 291 ODI caps. A bowling all-rounder, Vettori was the eighth player in Test cricket history to take 300 wickets and score 3,000 runs. In a career that spanned 18 years, Daniel Vettori established himself as one of the finest left-arm spinners in cricket history.

Born on January 27, 1979, in Auckland, New Zealand, he started his schooling as a medium-pace bowler. Vettori adapted his style early on to become a spinner, and this marked the beginning of his successful career. Vettori's house master at St Paul's Collegiate from 1992 until 1996, said Vettori first appeared in the St Paul's first XI as a fourth former, bowling left-arm seamers. He was a medium pacer, and [then headmaster] Steve Cole came up to him and said, "you're a left armer. There are so few left-arm spinners in the entire world of cricket. Give it a go". On February 6, 1997, a wiry, fresh-faced teenager took the field in his first international cricket match at Wellington's Basin Reserve. Only 18-years and 10 days old, one sporting scribe described him as "more like a choir boy than a cricketing prodigy".

It's fortunate Vettori could even play cricket after fracturing his spine in a road crash with the school's football team. In August, 1994. Vettori and his team were returning from a football tournament in New Plymouth when the van they were in went crashing off the road and down a bank. Vettori suffered a fracture to his lower spine, putting him out of sport for the rest of 1994 and derailing his promising cricket career for some time after that. He was the first of that team to crawl to the top of the bank and flag down passing traffic. It probably took him two years to hit 100 per cent again.

Vettori made his Shell Cup debut for Northern Districts during his last year at school, while also taking time out from school to play New Zealand Under-19s. When Vettori's New Zealand call up came in January, 1997, he had already turned down a cricket scholarship to Lincoln University in favour of his pharmacy studies at Waikato University. In his New Zealand debut, Vettori claimed his first wicket in dismissing England's Nasser Hussain. He took 2/98 from 34.3 overs, at a typically Vettori 2.84 runs per over. He took his first international five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka in March of the same year.

Vettori was among a very small minority of international sports stars to wear prescription spectacles while playing sport, and only one of very few cricketers in the modern era to play Test cricket with spectacles. His 12 for 149 against Australia at Eden Park in March 2000 was the first of three ten-wicket hauls, and he consistently did well against them, finishing with 66 wickets from 19 matches. He also excelled against Bangladesh, taking 34 wickets in four away Tests. A more than handy lower-order batter, Vettori averaged an impressive 39.76 from No. 8, and had six Test hundreds, including a 140 in Colombo and three at home against Pakistan.

Vettori had a classical action and a couple of telling variations and he is regarded as the best exponent of left-arm spin in the game since Bishen Singh Bedi. He had a beautiful loop, and deceives the batsmen in flight, often changing the pace and the trajectory of the ball to leave the batsmen fooled. He also had a killer arm ball which curves back in wickedly at pace, to catch the batsmen off-guard. In later years, he has added some variations like the one that moves away from the right hander ever so late. Vettori often borne the brunt of being the sole wicket-taker for New Zealand in Tests and luckily for them he had the ability to bowl long spells and possesses patience in abundance. He was willing to plug away at batsmen, working on their weaknesses before snaring them with an unexpected delivery.

Prior to becoming captain taking over from Stephen Fleming on a permanent basis in 2007, Vettori had captained New Zealand in ODI cricket on occasion. He captained New Zealand at the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa and subsequently was appointed the team's captain in all formats. Vettori's captaincy began with a losing Test series in England and attracted some criticism during the ODI series which followed. He had a far from smooth initiation into the job, with a number of high profile players such as Stephen Fleming, Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan retiring, and two of the leading bowlers - Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey - joining the rebel ICL, but he stuck to the task manfully, leading a bunch of inexperienced and rookie professionals through some difficult series. He had shouted from the balcony at The Oval following a controversial run out and later refused to shake hands with the England team after the match. This approach contrasted with Fleming's more languid, laid back style.

Vettori took his 300th Test wicket on New Zealand's tour of Sri Lanka in 2009, becoming only the second New Zealander to do so, joining Richard Hadlee. As of August 2022 his 362 Test wickets lies second only to Hadlee and he is New Zealand's leading One Day International wicket-taker with 297 dismissals for the national side. Vettori was the first left-arm spin bowler to take more than 300 wickets in both Test matches and One Day Internationals. He was the youngest man to take 100 Test wickets, doing so by the age of 21. In 2005, 2008 and 2010 he was named in the World ODI XI by the International Cricket Council and was named in the team of the tournament for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Vettori took 20 five-wicket hauls in Test matches, including taking ten wickets in a match three times. His best innings figures were achieved in Auckland in 1999/2000 against Australia where he took 7/87; he finished with career best-match figures of 12/149, the second best by a New Zealander at the time. As of August 2022 these match figures remain the third-best ever by a New Zealander, with only Ajaz Patel and Richard Hadlee having taken better figures in a match. He also took 12 wickets against Bangladesh 2004 and 10 against Sri Lanka in 2006. He took two five-wicket hauls in One Day International matches. He holds the distinction of having dismissed Shane Warne the most times in Test matches - getting him out nine times, most notably for 99 in a Test at Perth thus denying Warne his only Test hundred.

Vettori developed into a useful lower-order batsman, scoring more than 4,500 Test runs, including six centuries. Although it took him 47 Tests to score his first 1,000 runs at an average of 17.24, the second thousand took just 22 Tests at an average of 42.52 per innings. His highest Test score of 140 came against Sri Lanka at Singhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground, Colombo in August 2009. He was a productive lower order pinch-hitter who could add a quick fire 20-30 runs which often make the difference, particularly in One-Day contests.

Vettori stood down from the captaincy and retired from One day International and Twenty20 International cricket after the 2011 World Cup. He was recalled into the ODI team for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2015 Cricket World Cup, by which time he had retired from Test cricket, his final Test match was as an emergency injury replacement against Pakistan in November 2014. He was picked by the Delhi Daredevils for US$625,000 in the inaugural IPL auction. His penetrative spin bowling has added a cutting edge to their attack, leading Sehwag to dub him the best spinner in the world in 2009. However, he was let go after his contract expired and Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped him up in the 2011 auctions. Vettori was also made the captain and in that very year he took the Bangalore franchise to the final but they eventually lost to Chennai.

Vettori was head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League from 2014 to 2018. In July 2019, he was appointed as the head coach of the Dublin Chiefs in the first season of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament; the tournament was later cancelled. The same month, he became the spin bowling coach for the Bangladesh national side. In August 2021, Vettori was appointed as the head coach of the Caribbean Premier League franchise Barbados Royals. In May 2022, Vettori was appointed an assistant coach of the Australia men's national team. He remained in the role in 2023. In August 2023, Vettori was appointed as the head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.

Vettori was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to cricket. Daniel Vettori became the fourth Kiwi to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2025. The former Black Caps skipper joined fellow greats Sir Richard Hadlee, Martin Crowe and Debbie Hockley after being named in the latest list of additions.