India advanced to the ICC men’s ODI World Cup final, where they will either play South Africa or Australia, with yet another impressive display as they thrashed New Zealand by 70 runs. In 50 overs, the batting squad amassed an enormous 397/4, and in 48.5 overs, they bowled New Zealand out for 327.
Going to smash his 50th ODI century was Virat Kohli. With a brilliant 105 off of just 70 balls, Shreyas Iyer provided a great counterpoint to Kohli’s performance. Earlier, India won the toss and chose to bat, and Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave them an exciting start. After putting on 71 runs in 8.2 overs, Rohit was dismissed for 47 off 29 balls by Tim Southee. Gill finished at 79 as well.
With the ball, Mohammed Shami once again displayed mastery, taking seven of the ten wickets. After the Kiwi innings was restored, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell put up a third-wicket stand of more than 150 runs. After both batsmen reached their half-centuries, Williamson was removed by Shami at number 52.
But as the match went on, the bowler earned his redemption and dealt India a double blow. He trapped Tom Latham LBW for 0(2) after first removing Williamson for 69(73). After that, Mitchell—who has already hit a century—held steady with Glenn Phillips, adding more than fifty runs for the fifth wicket. In the 43rd over, Bumrah dismissed Phillips for 41(33), and in the following over, Mark Chapman was removed by Kuldeep Yadav.
Then, in the 46th over, Shami utterly dashed New Zealand’s aspirations when he dismissed Daryl Mitchell for 134 (119) before taking two more wickets.
