Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) ∙ India has smelled danger in the Himalayan valley. With that, Virat Kohli, the all-time best chase master in ODI cricket, rose to the occasion. Kohli (95), who led the fight in the match where India’s middle-order batting was tested for the first time in the World Cup, and Mohammed Shami, who celebrated his return to the team by taking 5 wickets, gave India a brilliant victory against New Zealand. India achieved the target by 4 wickets with 2 overs to spare in a match where the odds were changing. Kohli scored 78 runs for the sixth wicket along with Ravindra Jadeja (39 not out) at the stage of needing 83 more runs to win. Earlier, Shami, who broke the middle of the New Zealand batting line, was the player of the match.
Score: New Zealand 273 all out in 50 overs, India 274 for 6 in 48 overs. With the win, India became the only unbeaten team in this World Cup. Took first place with 10 points in 5 matches. Kiwis are second with 8 points from so many games. India’s next match is against England in Lucknow on 29th. New Zealand will face Australia on 28th in Dharamshala.
A critical alliance
The combination of Kohli and Jadeja came together in the last ball of the 34th over. India’s target at that stage was 83 runs off 97 balls. Knowing that the loss of one more wicket would lead to collapse, the alliance batted with care and scored frequent boundaries to maintain the run rate. With 5 runs to win, Kohli hit the ball off Matt Henry for a six and the ball fell into the hands of Glenn Phillips to complete the winning target and his century. The fans were disappointed to witness Kohli’s century in the second match in a row, but after 2 balls, Jadeja scored the winning run by smashing Henry’s short ball to the deep square leg boundary.
Crack in the middle
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill made a great start without breaking the routine. Kohli led India to victory despite the collapse of the middle order on the foundation provided by the opening pair who scored 71 runs off 67 balls. Rohit scored 46 runs in 40 balls including 4 fours and 4 sixes. India’s score is 71 when fast bowler Lockie Ferguson’s first delivery of the first over is bowled by Rohit as an inside edge.
After adding five more runs, when Gill (26) got out after being caught by Ferguson, the Kiwis missed a chance, but Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer (33) combined for 52 runs for the third wicket and Kohli and KL Rahul (27) for the fourth wicket combined for 54 runs. Trent Boult dismissed Iyer and Mitchell Santner trapped Rahul in front of the wicket and brought the Kiwis back into the match. Suryakumar Yadav (2), who came next, was run out, and India faced a crisis again. Mitchell Santner’s brilliant fielding paved the way for the run-out. Then the combination of Kohli and Jadeja in the sixth wicket brought India close to victory.
Century partnership
Earlier, India caught the Kiwis, who at one stage seemed to rush to 300 runs, with fierce death over bowling. In the last 10 overs, New Zealand conceded only 54 runs and lost 6 wickets. India’s bowling hero is Mohammad Shami, who returned 5 wickets, including the wickets of number four batsman Daryl Mitchell (130) and all-rounder Rachin Ravindra (75), who batted first after losing the toss, with a century. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj took a wicket each.
In the 8th over, the Kiwis were reduced to 19 for 2 wickets by the partnership of 159 runs scored by Mitchell and Rachin. In the middle overs, Mitchell and Rachin broke India’s game plan by smashing sixes off Kuldeep, India’s diamond weapon.
Dropped Catches
India, who were the best fielding team in this world cup, dropped 3 catches yesterday. India wasted two catches by Darryl Mitchell and one by Rachin Ravindra. It was India’s best fielder Jadeja who missed the lofted shot to backward point before Rachin settled down. Later, a difficult catch by Mitchell behind the wicket left keeper KL Rahul and another by Bumrah near the boundary.
Game card
Toss: India
Player of the match: Mohammad Shami
New Zealand
Conway c Shreyas b Siraj-0, Will Young b Shami-17, Rachin Ravindra c Gill b Shami-75, Daryl Mitchell c Kohli b Shami-130, Tom Latham LB b Kuldeep-5, Phillips c Rohit b Kuldeep-23, Chapman C Kohli b Bumrah–6, Mitchell Santner b Shami–1, Matt Henry b Shami–0, Lockie Ferguson run out–1, Trent Boult not out–0, extras–15.
273 all out in 50 overs. Wicket loss: 1–9, 2–19, 3–178, 4–205, 5–243, 6–257, 7–260, 8–260, 9–273, 10–273.
Bowling: Bumrah 10–1–45–1, Siraj 10–1–45–1, Shami 10–0–54–5, Jadeja 10–0–48–0, Kuldeep 10–0–73–2.
India
Rohit Sharma b Lockie Ferguson-46, Shubman Gill c Daryl Mitchell b Lockie Ferguson-26, Virat Kohli c Glenn Phillips b Matt Henry-95, Shreyas Iyer c Devon Conway b Boult-33, KL Rahul LB b Santner-27 , Suryakumar Yadav run out–2, Ravindra Jadeja not out–39, Mohammed Shami not out–1, extras–5,
Total 274 for 6 in 48 overs.Wicket loss: 1–71, 2–76, 3–128, 4–182, 5–191, 6–269.
Bowling: Boult 10–0–60–1, Henry 9–0–55–1, Santner 10–0–37–1, Ferguson 8–0–63–2, Rachin 9–0–46–0, Phillips 2– 0–12–0.
2023-10-23 06:13:51
#Sensing #danger #Virat #Kohli #rose #occasion #Himalayan #King
