CWC2023: India marches onto 4th World cup final as Kohli creates history & Shami gets 7 wkts

 

India finally cracks the New Zealand  puzzle in knockouts !! 

The best team in this World cup has reached the final . India put up another magnificent performance to outplay New Zealand  in a high scoring 1st semi final at Mumbai . After batting first and putting on an imposing 397 , India worked their way to the final by restricting New Zealand to 327 but not before Williamson and Mitchell created some panic amongst the Indian fans with a marathon partnership .

Rohit won the toss and batted first and he himself gave the team absolutely breathtaking start with another 47 off 29 balls as he himself drove , pulled and hooked  to another quick score before he was caught by Williamson off Southee.  

Gill initially took time to get going but once he got into his rhytm , he played sublime drives and flicks and played spin well before a cramp cruelly cut short his stay as he retired for 79 .

Meanwhile Kohli was slow from his blocks as he accumulated his runs with singles and doubles but Shreyas after getting into his groove started playing shots from time to time . Kohli who was cramping in later stages ,  finally got his historic 50th ODI hundred in the 42nd over and then played some aggresive shots before he got out for 117 off 113 balls caught by Conway off Southee . Kohli thus surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's 49 ODI hundreds and also surpassed Sachin's all time World cup record of 673 runs in a single World cup . Currently Kohli is at 711 runs and the highest run scorer in this Word cup and the first ever player to reach 700 plus runs in a single edition of the World cup . 

Meanwhile Shreyas has already started playing blistering shots as he hit 8 powerful sixes pulling and lofting the quicks to reach a sparkling  105 off only 70 balls before he was caught by Mitchell off Boult . Rahul plundered a quick 39 off 20 balls while Surya (1) was out cheaply . Later Gill again came out and finished at 80 . India reached an imposing 397/ 4 in their 50 overs . Southee took 3 wickets for the Kiwis but at high cost of 100 runs. 

Here it must be said that while we all hail Kohli's feats and his ability to anchor the innings , it must be said that he needed to show more intent as India approached the 40 over mark . Luckily Shreyas Iyer played with high intent that took India close to 400 , else 350 on this pitch would have been within New Zealand 's reach . To add it must be said that Rohit's explosive starts helped Kohli to take time & anchor the innings without any rush . 

In reply Conway started off with 2 consecutive boundaries off Bumrah but both he and Ravindra were restricted by the quicks upfront as finally both were caught behind by Rahul off Shami for 13 apiece . 

It was left to skipper Kane Williamson and Daryll Mitchell to set up the Kiwi chase and both did their job magnificently.  Williamson played the anchor role and Mitchell started playing sparkling shots including his imperious straight down the ground sixes off the quicks . Williamson was dropped by Shami but that didnt prove costly as he finally got out trying to hit Shami for 69 as India finally broke the threatening 181 run big stand which was causing tension to the Indian fans and there were some fielding lapses by Indian team.  Soon Shami dismissed Latham (0) lbw to rattle the Kiwis further .  However Mitchell stayed solid and was continuing to play blistering shots while Phillips took time to settle but finally scored 41 off 33 balls before getting out to Bumrah as another threatening partnership of 75 was nipped in the bud . The innings fell away after that as wickets went down in a heap with Shami getting 7 scalps  and Mitchell finally falling for a magnificent 134 off 119 balls with 9 fours and seven sixes . New Zealand got to 327 and lost by 70 runs after a spirited chase and India moved towards their 4th World cup final .

Shami for his heroic 7 wickets in a high scoring game in a semi final was the player of the match . 

Thus New Zealand  are now out of the world cup but they deserve accolades for chasing bravely such a huge target in a semi final and  made the game interesting  for a long period of their chase .

India on the other hand completed their 10th consecutive wins and will now hope to extend the winning run to 11 in this world cup by winning the coveted trophy.  The way India is playing , they will be hot favourites to take the title .