India has defeated New Zealand at World Cup for the first time in 20 years. Now, the home side is the only unbeaten side in this tournament with 5 wins from 5 matches.
It’s that man again; he is the solid backbone of the Indian cricket team, and whenever the situation demands his efforts, he steps forward and gives it his all. More often than not, he leads India to victory. We have seen it countless times. His name is Virat Kohli. Once again, the chase master has done the job for India against their toughest opponents, New Zealand.
It wasn’t a challenging target for India, but things got a bit sketchy when they lost two wickets in quick succession just after lunch, with 83 runs still required for a win in a 274-run chase. As usual, Rohit Sharma once again played a fearless knock, which provided India with a solid platform for the chase. Lockie Ferguson then delivered a cracker of a delivery to break the 71-run partnership between the Indian openers.
Two overs later, Ferguson struck once again and removed Shubman Gill. New Zealand leaked a few runs after the second wicket fell; otherwise, this could have been a challenging period for India. Shreyas Iyer got off to a flyer, but New Zealand had their breakthrough just after India’s second 50-run partnership of the match. Kohli was taking his time, as he always does, to build a substantial innings.
New Zealand was still in the hunt, as their defending score didn’t look threatening enough. India had a good start to their chase, which relieved the pressure on the middle-order to play more relaxed cricket. This has been India’s approach in this tournament; they aim to attack in the first 10 overs.
There was a moment of miscommunication when Surya was run out, and India looked to be in a bit of trouble. However, a 68-run partnership between Kohli and Jadeja led India to their fifth victory of the tournament. It wasn’t an entirely easy chase, but Kohli made it look easy because at the other end, wickets were falling at regular intervals.
Earlier, Mohammad Shami delivered a thrilling bowling performance with a memorable 5-wicket haul in his first match of the tournament. India was a bowler short, and Kuldeep Yadav had to endure some decent hitting. That’s why Shami’s bowling was so crucial in restricting New Zealand to under 280 runs.
New Zealand lost Devon Conway and Will Young early in the innings, but it was a wonderful recovery from Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra that allowed New Zealand to get back into the game. Mitchell scored a magnificent century (130 off 127 balls) in tough batting conditions.
He is so reliable with the bat, and most importantly, he brings so much intent and positivity with his presence. No doubt it was one of the best centuries of the tournament because it was the first against India in this tournament, and their bowling attack is hard to get past.
India dropped catches and was a bit sloppy, and without Hardik Pandya, their main spinner went for 73 runs in 10 overs, yet they managed to restrict New Zealand to 273, which could have been over 300. That’s how good this Indian bowling attack is. On their bad days, they can still deliver match-winning performances.
Similarly, the case was with the batting. Only Virat Kohli scored a half-century, yet they easily chased down 274 runs. New Zealand was competitive, but it felt like they missed a premium spinner in their bowling attack.
