New Zealand beats India in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup’s semifinal

New Zealand has beaten the tournament favorite, India, in the first semifinal of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. New Zealand won the match by producing the best bowling performance of the tournament. It was a sensational game of cricket at Old Trafford, England. England and Australia will face each other in the second semifinal.

New Zealand put an ordinary total, according to the modern standards, of 239-8 in its 50 overs in the match which ended up on the reserve day. They restricted India to 92-6 before the extraordinary partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni. They took their team closer to the target with a 116 runs partnership before Jadeja departed on the ball of Trent Boult. India needed 37 runs in 18 balls at that time.

Martin Guptill produced the best runout of the tournament by throwing the ball directly onto the stumps from deep. Dhoni was called out on the big screen and the hopes of India vanished away. It was one of the best performances of the New Zealand team in the history of their cricket. The bowlers of New Zealand were superb right from the start.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Dinesh Karthik were in the pavilion inside the first powerplay. Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant took their team forward but Rishabh departed after scoring 32 runs on the ball of Santner. Jadeja made a brilliant fifty but at the end, New Zealand won the match by 18 runs. It was a clinical performance by New Zealand in all three departments.

Virat Kohli, captain of India, said in the post-match press conference, “I am very disappointed as we played on top throughout the tournament”. Kane Williamson, skipper of New Zealand, said, “It is quite different feeling from 2015 semifinal”. Matt Henry, man of the match, “We are quite happy to be going to Lord’s in the final of the world cup 2019”. New Zealand will face Australia or England in the final at Lord’s.