On the way to the semi-finals, no team could challenge the host, India. Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson gave the Indian team a real scare yesterday. The Kiwis were hoping for victory with the bats of these two batsmen chasing a mountainous target. However, the New Zealand team had to leave the field getting defeated due to the bowling canon of Mohammed Shami.
India bested New Zealand by 70 runs in the first semi-final match of the World Cup 2023 on Wednesday (November 15). New Zealand was bowled out for 327 runs in 48.5 overs chasing the huge target of 398 runs set by India. With this victory, India reached the World Cup final remaining undefeated. After 9 wins in the group stage, they blew away the Kiwis in the semi-finals as well.
New Zealand did not get off to a good start chasing a big target. Two openers Devon Conway (13) and Rachin Ravindra (13) returned with wickets in two successive overs of Shami. The Kiwis were pretty much out of the match after losing two wickets for 39 runs. But they were brought back into the fight by Williamson and Mitchell.
For the third wicket, these two top-order batsmen put on a partnership of 181 runs. But after Williamson’s return with 69 runs, New Zealand lost their way again. After the dismissal of the captain, Tom Latham got back on the same over. The Kiwis made a pair of 75 runs for the fifth wicket. Glenn Phillips scored 41 runs off 33 balls. However, after his departure, Kiwis could not resist the defeat.
Mitchell batted keeping one end safe, but no one could give him worthy company at the other end. Mitchell scored 134 runs off 119 balls with 9 fours and 7 sixes. Shami single-handedly destroyed the Kiwis’ batting line-up. He scalped 7 wickets with 57 runs and was also selected as the player of the match.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and went down to bat at the beginning. He added 70 runs to the scoreboard of the team in 8 overs with Shubman Gill. But as luck did not help him, he had to leave the field 3 runs away from fifty. Rohit hit 4 sixes and 4 fours and scored 47 runs off 29 balls.
Gill stood on the other side solid and picked up the fifty. With 7 fours and 1 six, he scored a 41-ball fifty on his way to a century. He got on top of the Kiwi bowlers by forming a partnership with Virat Kohli. But in the 23rd over, Gill pulled his leg muscle while tackling Mitchell Santner’s ball.
In the end, Gill had to leave the field. He scored 79 runs off 65 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes before going to the dugout. When Gill left the crease, the Indian’s score was 164 in 22.4 overs.
After that, Kohli got out in the 44th over of the innings with a partnership of 163 runs with Shreyas Iyer. He set three records before that. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar and Shakib Al Hasan scoring the eighth fifty in the current season. Sachin in the 2003 World Cup and Shakib in the 2019 World Cup played 7 fifty-plus innings.
The 35-year-old batsman set the record for the highest runs in a single event, surpassing Sachin’s score of 80 runs. Sachin kept the record for two decades by scoring 673 runs. And by scoring a century, he became the owner of the highest 50th century in the history of ODI cricket. Earlier, he was jointly on the list of highest centuries with cricket god Sachin by scoring 49 centuries. Which he now single-handedly owns.
In the end, Kohli was caught by Conway after scoring 117 runs off 113 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. On the other side, Shreyas scored 8 sixes and 3 fours in 67 balls. He finally scored 105 runs off 70 balls and was bowled in the 49th over.
Suryakumar Yadav was the only failure on this day. He was the victim of Southee by scoring 1 run in 2 balls. In the end, Gill came back to the crease and scored 1 run off 1 ball. He remained unbeaten on 80 runs off 66 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes. At the other end, KL Rahul left the field with 5 fours and 2 sixes, slashing 39 runs from 20 balls.
India – 397/4 (50.0)
New Zealand – 327/10 (48.5)
Result – India won by 70 runs
Player of the match – Mohammed Shami
Virat Kohli
India | Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (wk), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Kuldeep Yadav. |
New Zealand | Kane Williamson (c), Tom Latham (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Mitchell Santner, and Trent Boult. |
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