It is now confirmed that India will be up against Australia and New Zealand will head back to Lahore take on South Africa in the other match. Apart from academically sorting out who else was to qualify as semi-finalist contenders, the two first placed teams in Group A had also presented the remaining teams with a case and it was India who appeared to be more convincing as they unleashed a spin assault on New Zealand to win a match which was meant to be a contest to defend a total of 249 for the loss of 44 runs. For more Details; Go Here
In the lead of the spin pack was the man to whom his captain gave the new ball, and he did not disappoint. Chakaravarthy came on for Harshit Rana and were selected instead of a fast bowler as India’s new addition to the squad. India were already bolstered at the time. Chakaravarthy was one of the players who drifted earlier in his career. These days in the height of a purple patch he is un-pickable and serviced up as India’s first ODI five fer. In the inning’s highlight, India’s quartet of spinners combined to get 9 for 156 and stopped New Zealand’s promising chase in its tracks, having accepted a risk on Williamson’s 81 runs.
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In theory, India’s total of 249 was just eight runs more than what Pakistan scored a week back at the same venue. With the pitch offering substantial grip and without so much as a hint of dew coming in during the second innings, India’s selection was accurate to put it mildly. Rohit
Varun started with a full-toss ball that Williamson drove for a four. That was a rare length concession for the spinner, who soon enough started to work over New Zealand’s batters with gusto using his bag of variations. In his second over, he had Will Young inside edging onto his stumps after playing the wrong line. Now Daryl Mitchell comes in. He smashed tons in both games against India in the last World Cup and one who generally has multiple options against spinners. But here, however, India had cut off his reverse sweep with a well-placed short third man and gave him no releases. Kuldeep’s hand was very hard to pick off for Mitchell and was eventually put out of his misery by the left-arm wrist spinner after missing with a leg spinner and taking it on the pads beside the stumps.
It was a characteristic of India’s bowlers that they almost never went for the stumps, even on a track that was turning, thus ensuring that the LBW remained a popular mode of dismissal with four lower order batters captured in front of the wickets. Tom Latham was beaten by Ravindra Jadeja’s reverse sweep as Varun picked off Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell, who, unlike the other bowler, would have made it if the game was to be reviewed.
Williamson attempted to piece the chase together to some degree, and even profited from the three dropped catches, two from KL Rahul who was behind the stumps. Ultimately, with the required rate rising sharply, he tried to take on Axar, but was deceived in the flight and was stumped for a woeful 81 off 120 balls. New Zealands hopes were diminished as the match progressed, and Varun was then able to add two more low-order wickets to his total in order to earn a well deserved five-for.
Before Varun’s efforts under the spotlight, it was another fast bowler, Matt Henry who had returned with identical figures (5 for 42) after the New Zealanders decided to chase. He also proved to be a bane for the Indian top-order yet again as he was during that horrendous world cup semis over at old trafford five years back. The seam bowler started by bowling short of good length and on one of his deliveries, pushed it further up and managed to beat the shuffling Shubman Gill who is quite in form these days and trapped the young batter LBW.
Having just scored a century, Virat Kohli was keen on getting one over Henry and did succeed in dragging out a short and wide ball but his cut came off the cutter Phillips made in his own effort to catch Mohammad Rizwan earlier in the tournament, and perhaps outdid him. In the space between them captain Rohit Sharma tried to pull the ball too hard and ended up slicing it to a leaping fielder in mid-wicket.
India had scored 30 runs for the loss of three wickets. This marks the second time the Indian team has lost three of their batsman for less than or equal to 46 runs after 15 overs. These statistics were closely observed six years ago during the game in Manchester, but in this game we are reviewing, it worked in the Indian team’s favor. While on that occasion, the meeting of a left-right pair assembled some relief towards the left allrounder Axar’s firm moves settled down, along with Shreyas Iyer who came into bat at No.5 to stabilize the sides innings. To address the poor start, the recently formed partnership made up for it by making boundary-less runs with the scoring rate that saw them go 51 balls without a Gully. Points may be made that, at a specific point in the game, Axar scored five runs after facing 26 balls creating a total of 24 and smashed a Michael Bracewell for a score of four runs using a sweeper.
The interesting part is, Bracewell had more of an offering than he has had while in Pakistan and struggled to piece his lengths together. In his defense, a small fraction of his low performance was the manner of Iyer pressing forward when he was facing him. Iyer rocked back in an effortless manner that suggested he had stepped out, only to be stunned by stroking backwards daintily pick the boundaries. When India’s total was close to finishing the century, Iyer added three boundaries from William O’Rourke overs, hitting the century in the 25th mark. He was assisted by Axar admirably and incredibly, who scored very well against New Zealand’s spinners. For more latest Cricket Update; Click here