ICC World Cup: India managed to make it into the final of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 following their victory over New Zealand in what proved to be an action-packed match played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where players such as Virat Kohli became the first man ever to score 50 hundreds of ODI cricket history and India’s persistent number three allowed team to post 397/4 score which was enough to qualify India for its first WC semifinal since 2014.
The Men in Blue, tasting individual virtuosity and collective solidarity, wiped New Zealand out on a Wednesday night ebbing away at the Wankhede Stadium during the World Cup semis. Virat Kohli’s fifth ODI century in a row, Shreyas Iyer’s ton, together with Mohammed Shami’s seven for 57 combined wonderfully to see India defeat Kane Williamson’s men by 70 runs.
India’s effort with the ball had been led by the imperious Shami keeping at bay a stubborn New Zealand response led by Daryl Mitchell’s 134 – the right hander’s second century against India during the tournament.
He was outstanding in his performance by taking seven wickets for fifty-seven runs earning him the best batsman award and made him be the leading wicket taker of the tournament with twenty four from six matches registering an astonishing average of nine point thirteen.
In reply, New Zealand managed to score 327 runs in 48.5 overs while chasing India’s 397 for four. The team that did not make it to the final match is the India team that suffered defeat by the same rivals in the 2019 World Cup semi finals played at Manchester.
New Zealand began in style with Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. Nibbling at Shami’s first delivery, Conway however fell prey to Rahul’s dive. Four off shammi and the watchful eyes of williams skipper with tight defence.
Thereafter, Williamson and Daryl Mitchell put up an aggressive 181-run partnership for the third wicket. He ended it with the greatest showman, all swag and smashing Six off Shami This was a close shave to Williamson, who saw his bat being on the line after a direct hit by Rahul to uproot stumps and the evidence didn’t indicate that the second bail came off in time before the stump disruption.
Then, Shami sent Williamson packing for 52, but by now Bumrah was out of sorts as the terrifically on-song Mitchell smashed him all over and duly reached three figures. However, Shami got rid of Williamson(69) and Tom Latham. The double blow proved difficult for New Zealand which withered in ashes; yet, even before it did so, Mitchell had scored 134 (119b, 9×4, 7×6) .
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During the afternoon, Rohit won the throw and chose to bat on a brisk tone. The first over produced ten runs and Trent Boult got whipped by a driven four off Rohit for the next run. After that, his partner Shubman Gill tucked into Tim Southee before Rohit Sharma launched a bouquet of drives and pulls as Boult and Southee felt the heat of the bat of their captain.
Mitchel spina was taken up from the fans while rohit had made 47 runs before outing him as well. Waiting for new man Kohli, Gill shifted gears, pulling seamers and dancing down to spinters. Nevertheless, his 79th game, he was bent double holding his thighs as he walked past the pavilion, in agony.
Shreyas was the aggressor while Kohli continued pocketing his runs. He blasted Ravindra over the ropes for the maximum and replicated the action on Southee and Boult. The first sign that something had changed with kohli was revealed when lockie Ferguson did four pulls off him.
The stadium resounded with “Kohli, Kohli” chants as he approached the fifty-first century ODI ton. A two-off from Ferguson paved way for a new mile stone. Shortly Kohli (117, 113b, 9×4, 2×6), Shreyas Iyer (105, 70b, 4×4, 8×6) and Suryakumar Yadav
