World Cup 2023: Team India has reached the final of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 after defeating New Zealand in a high-scoring match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami, and Shreyas Iyer putting up dominant performances on the day.
Kohli became the first man in the history of One Day International cricket to score 50 centuries in the format as India’s third consecutive knock helped the team post 397/4 in the first innings – a target that would have helped India book a World Cup berth. It was enough. Final for the first occasion since 2014.
The imperious Shami led India’s efforts with the ball and halted New Zealand’s aggressive reply thanks to Daryl Mitchell’s 134-run knock – the right-handed batsman’s second century against India in the tournament.
Shami finished with top figures of 7/57, making him the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 24 wickets at a breathtaking average of 9.13 in six matches.
Earlier, the Indian openers got off to a strong start with Kohli scoring a brilliant century as tournament hosts Mumbai got off to a great start.
With the wicket in hand and plenty of strength to come, India was still looking at a huge score after Kohli was out for 117. And Shreyas Iyer’s brilliant century helped him post the highest score ever in a men’s Cricket World Cup semi-final. His century in 67 balls.
Mitchell Santner’s 1/51 was the pick of the returns for the Kiwis, with Tim Southee taking three of the four wickets to fall but ending with expensive figures of 3/100.
Shubman Gill, who returned after injury, remained unbeaten on 80* off 66, Rohit Sharma’s 47 off 29 balls and KL Rahul’s 39* off 20 balls booked the innings in style.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: India beats New Zealand by 70 runs
New Zealand needed something special to chase the target of 398 and got a strong start as Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra attacked in the powerplay.
But first change Shami once again achieved success for India, getting Conway caught out for 13 runs. Shami was ready to send Ravindra to the dugout again, with the youngster also out for 13 runs.
Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell led the rebuild, bringing up 100 for the Black Caps in the 17th over, with eight wickets in hand at the required rate of less than nine per over.
Mitchell’s quietly impressive tournament continued as he reached his half-century as nerves began to grow around the Wankhede.
And Williamson – who got a scare when he thought KL Rahul had run him out – also brought up his half-century shortly afterward as the pair built a partnership that kept the game alive.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: India missed a big chance to run out Kane Williamson
The pair kept going and added 181 runs for the third wicket before Williamson was out for 69 to the returning Shami once again. And Mohammed Shami took his fourth wicket by dismissing Tom Latham for a duck in two balls.
With a required scoring rate of more than ten per over after the captain’s departure, New Zealand needed an all-time great performance of hitting from Mitchell and Glenn Phillips to prevent India from making it to Sunday’s final.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: Daryl Mitchell hits six sixes
Ravindra Jadeja’s excellence in fielding brought India to the brink of victory as he caught Phillips (41) off Jasprit Bumrah and Mark Chapman (2) off Kuldeep Yadav, leaving New Zealand six wickets down and one A miracle was needed.
And any hope vanished when Jadeja took a hat-trick of catches to end Mitchell’s innings of 134 off 119 balls, with Shami taking another five-wicket haul.
And Shami returned to finish the job one last time, taking two more wickets to become the tournament’s leading wicket-taker and seal the victory in ruthless fashion.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: How India reached 397/4
Rohit Sharma had won the toss in Mumbai and decided to bat first, there was no change in both the teams. And Rohit backed his call by putting his foot on the pedal at the start of the innings.
He hit some brilliant fours on Trent Boult in the very first over. There was not much disturbance in Boult’s line in the initial over, but Rohit came with the intention of scoring runs quickly.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: Rohit Sharma scored a run in the very first over
This continued in the later overs as Rohit kept going for his shots, while Shubman Gill provided him with good support. With his third six of the innings, Rohit overtook Chris Gayle as the batsman with the most number of sixes in Cricket World Cup history.
India continued to attack at an aggressive pace in the first 10 overs before Rohit lofted a slower ball from Tim Southee over mid-off, where his opposite number Kane Williamson ran backward and took a brilliant catch.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: Williamson’s brilliant catch sends Rohit back
Gill got good support from Virat Kohli and the pair continued to progress at a rapid pace. After the fall of Rohit’s wicket, Gill hit some excellent shots to maintain the run pace.
By the end of the 20th over, India had crossed 150. During this, Kohli became the third-highest run scorer in ODI history. It looked as if New Zealand had no answers until Gill suffered cramps in the 23rd over and had to leave the pitch with the side remaining unbeaten on 79.
However, working like an automaton, India’s batting lineup kept scoring runs. Newcomer Shreyas Iyer soon joined the run-scorers. He hit some big hits against Rachin Ravindra in the 27th over. Kohli completed his half-century in the same over, his first half-century in a World Cup knockout match.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer partnership
The batsman opened his hands by hitting an extraordinary six down the leg side against Tim Southee in the 30th over. In this World Cup edition, he scored 674 runs in the 34th over. This helped him surpass Sachin Tendulkar’s 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup, which was the record for most runs in a single edition of the tournament.
Both of them added 100 runs in just 79 balls. India’s innings slowed down a bit after scoring 17 runs off Boult in the 36th over. A contributing factor was that Kohli began suffering from hamstring cramps.
The slow scoring period continued as Kohli recovered and moved towards three points. And the historic moment came with a two off Lockie Ferguson, with Kohli celebrating his record-breaking moment in style.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: Virat Kohli broke his Master Tendulkar’s records
Virat Kohli scored his 50th ODI century against New Zealand in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Kohli opened his arms after reaching three figures and received a standing ovation before Southee made 117 off 113 balls. But, the excellent Iyer kept the momentum going in the death overs as India focused their attention on a big score.
Iyer’s century came off 67 balls, the third fastest by an Indian in the Cricket World Cup, with eight of his 12 fours being sixes before Boult was out for 105. And KL Rahul’s late flurry left India trailing by 400 runs, leaving New Zealand with a strong need of 398 runs – a target that proved out of reach.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: India VS New Zealand Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
World Cup 2023 Semifinal: India VS New Zealand Squads.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav.
New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young.
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