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Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted to India’s semi-final exit from the World Cup, and said he was impressed with the fighting spirit the team showed in the nail-biting contest against New Zealand.
“A tough game, tough semifinal and really pleased to be on the right side of things,” says winning captain Kane Williamson.
“We've seen conditions be really tricky at times and in some games, we didn't play our best cricket but guys weren't disheartened and backed ourselves. On a particular day, anything can happen and it was a game of small margins. Pleased to come across the line.”
“I think the first half we were very very good with the ball in the field. We thought we had restricted New Zealand to a very chase-able total. But the way they bowled in the first half an hour made all the difference,” says losing captain Virat Kohli.
“The credit has to go to the New Zealand bowlers. It’s the skill level that was on display for everyone, and it made life very difficult for the Indian batsmen.”
“New Zealand showed more composure than us, and they were braver in crunch situations so they deserve to go into the final.”
On Jadeja’s knock: Jaddu had an outstanding couple of games. The way he played today was a great sign for his skill set and what he can do for the team. Just going out with so much clarity and turning the game around was outstanding to see. MS had a good partnership with him.
Kiwi bowler Matt Henry gets the Player of the Match award for his 3/37 in 10 overs.
"Hardik and Dhoni, the way they batted with Jadeja to come in, we know they are world-class finishers. We needed to finish off well and get them out before it went too deep. Very special to earn ourselves a Lords final, thanks to all the New Zealand supporters out there. We are looking forward to the final.”
Neesham finishes the game for New Zealand, removing Yuzvendra Chahal for 5. The final wicket of the big One Day International that has been completed in two days.
Pre-tournament favourites India are knocked out of the World Cup. And Kane Williamson-led NZ enter their second-straight final of the quadrennial tournament.
MS Dhoni gets run-out by a direct hit from Martin Guptill. Looking for the second run, Dhoni was left inches out from the crease as the wicket got dismantled.
Ravindra Jadeja mistimes the first shot of the day and unfortunately holds out to Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson at mid wicket.
How important is this 100-run stand! The partnership came off in only 97 balls. Jadeja is playing a special knock out here. He has a contribution of 66 in the 100-run stand.
India need 42 runs from 24 balls.
The duo of Jadeja and Dhoni scored 40 runs in the last 5 overs with most of the hitting done by Jadeja. Jadeja is on 54 off 43 ball.
India need 62 runs from 36 balls.
It looks like New Zealand need to overcome Ravindra Jadeja for a place in the final.
Jadeja brings up his 10th ODI fifty in such a crucial match for his side. The most important part of his innings is that it came at less than run-a-ball with 3 sixes and 3 fours.
India need 69 runs from 42 balls.
India’s first 50-run stand of the match. Jadeja and Dhoni bring up their 50-run partnership for the seventh wicket off 56 balls. Jadeja played a bigger role in the stand with
India need 81 runs from 54 balls.
Jadeja playing counter-attack cricket. He is taking the attack to the Kiwi bowlers. With a six and a four he is on 24 off 24 balls. Meanwhile. MSD is not taking risks which is evident from his 44-ball 22.
India need 109 from 72 balls.
Ravindra Jadeja has made his intentions clear from the word go. Jadeja gets one in the slot and he hits it for a monstrous six down long-on. Good over for India as they take 9 runs from the Jimmy Neesham over.
India 106/6 in 33 overs
Very similar to Pant’s dismissal! Hardik also lost his patience as he tried to heave Santner across the line. The ball takes a top edge as it goes high up. Skipper Williamson takes a catch at midwicket. Hardik Pandya walks back for 62-ball 32.
India 92/6 in 30.3 overs
Dhoni and Pandya not looking for boundaries as the duo rotate strikes. But we also need to look at the number of dot balls played. The duo has scored 9 runs from the last five overs. The required run-rate has climbed over 6.
India need 157 runs to win from 132 balls.
Rishabh Pant couldn’t play the waiting game anymore. Pant lost his patience as he slogs the delivery from Mitchell Santner over deep extra cover. Colin de Grandhomme was perfectly stationed there to complete an easy catch. Big breakthrough for New Zealand!
India 71/5 in 22.5 overs
The New Zealand pacers rattled through the Indian top-order as they reduced the side to 5/3 in the first five overs. As every Indian fan waited for MS Dhoni to walk out after Virat Kohli’s dismissal, the former skipper continued to sit in the dressing room despite the fall of India’s third and fourth wicket within the first powerplay.
Surprised with the decision making, many believe that Dhoni might be injured which has led to the shocking batting-order.
Team India’s slowest fifty in the tournament. Not a great time to register such a dubious record!
India need 190 runs to win from 199 balls.
Both Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant not playing their natural game. The duo taking their time to settle in as the situation demands no further loss of wicket for India. Ferguson and De Grandhomme bowling really tight overs.
India 47/4 in 16 overs
Rishabh Pant is trying to breathe some life into the Indian chase. With three boundaries, Pant is batting on 19 off 30 balls and looking good. He got a reprieve after Jimmy Neesham dropped a sitter off Ferguson, while he was on
Now, the question is - Did Neesham just drop the World Cup?
India 37/4 in 13 Overs
Off Matt Henry’s bowling Dinesh Karthik tried carving the ball towards backward point but Jimmy Neesham completes a one-hander to escalate India’s misery.
Cometh hour, Cometh the team! And New Zealand is redefining the statement. What great intensity shown by the Kiwis on the field and the catch from Neesham was just an example.
India 24/4 in 10 overs
New Zealand strike first blood! Both Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli dismissed in the span of eight balls. Three balls later Rahul also goes back.
The massacre started in the second over of the match.
In-form Rohit Sharma (1) feels a fuller delivery from Matt Henry that angles towards off stump. Keeper Latham does the rest as Rohit goes back nodding his head.
Eight balls later, New Zealand also sees the back of skipper Virat Kohli (1). Trent Boult strikes this time. Kohli caught plumb in front of the wicket. On-field umpire gives him out but he reviews, which decides to go with umpire call. The ball was full again, starting on leg stump but swings back in towards middle. The balls raps him on the front pad just above the knee-roll.
Three balls later, KL Rahul also goes back for 1, courtesy one of the funniest shots of the competition. A good length delivery from Henry, which angled in. Instead, of leaving it, Rahul decides to go for it. But only manages to knick it behind. Latham again does the rest.
India 5/3 in 3.1 overs
New Zealand finished their innings at 239/8 in 50 overs. Resuming their batting at 211/5 on Wednesday, New Zealand managed only 28 runs off the remaining 23 balls as Ravindra Jadeja wreaked havoc on the field with a direct hit that got Ross Taylor out and then an excellent catch at the boundary to send Latham. New Zealand lost all their three wickets in the 49th over.
Meanwhile, New Zealand won’t be disappointed with the total as they had this score in mind when they came out to bat on Tuesday. India won’t heave a sigh of relief after their good bowling performance. They know it is a tricky target, keeping in mind the sluggish nature of the pitch and the pace battery that New Zealand has. The cloudy condition will be another disadvantage.
Remember, if the match gets washed out today also India will qualify since they finished higher than New Zealand in the league stage.
After Ravindra Jadeja Sends Ross Taylor back with a wonderful direct hit. The very next delivery, he leaps high to take a blinder at the boundary off Bhuvi. Both overnight batsmen back in the pavilion. In the last ball of the over, Henry tries to slog down long on but only manages to find skipper Virat Kohli.
Three wickets in an over. What a start from India!
New Zealand 232/8 in 49 overs
Bhuvneshwar Kumar completes the 47th over. Both Latham and Taylor sprinting hard to finish with 8 runs from the over.
New Zealand 217/5 in 47 overs
Having already broken the record for the maximum number of centuries in a World Cup edition, Indian opener Rohit Sharma will be looking to break another World Cup record when he comes out to bat against New Zealand in the first semi-final of the ongoing tournament at the Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Having scored 647 runs in the eight matches so far in the ongoing World Cup, Rohit needs 27 runs more to become the highest run-getter in a single edition of the showpiece event, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 673 which he scored in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.
Ross Taylor and Tom Latham will come out to bat for New Zealand once the match resumes. Taylor after a slow start changed gears before the rain interruption. He was batting on 65 off 84 balls while Latham was on 3 off 4 balls. Two over after interuption, the Kiwi batsmen had taken Chahal to the cleaners for 18 runs.
New Zealand will hope to score at least 40 runs in the remaining 23 balls to put on board a fighting total of around 250.
Meanwhile, India’s final overs will be bowled by pacemen Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, who helped to tie down New Zealand's batsmen with disciplined bowling on a sluggish pitch.
Despite the showers, the pitch has retained the nature. It continues to have a dry look which will assist the three Kiwi pacers - Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry. The trio will look to utilise the slowness of the pitch.
Meanwhile, the pitch might resemble a ‘rank turner’ but as we saw yesterday both Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal hardly got the ball to turn so Mitchell Santner might not be that big a threat to Team India.
With the forecast to be cloudy again in Manchester, batting conditions can be expected to be difficult.
The Manchester skies look clear with the sun shining brightly on Wednesday morning.
But according to AccuWeather’s forecast for Manchester shows that conditions will be ‘partly cloudy’ till 10 am. However, 11 am onwards rains are expected, with showers at 1 pm and 3 pm.
The match is scheduled to start at 10:30 am.
Showers are expected again at 6 pm and then later in the day around 8 pm again.
If rain decides to play spoilsport again on Wednesday on the reserve day, and the match is washed out, a result will not be possible, and the team ranked higher during the league stage will qualify for the final. In this case, India would advance because it finished higher in the group standings.
India has to bat at least 20 overs to achieve a result one way or the other. If there is no result.
Both the World Cup semifinals, and the final have a reserve day. Since the match did not resume today, the knockout game will continue tomorrow (Wednesday, 10 July) from where it stopped. That means New Zealand will start batting at 211/5 with 23 balls remaining. India will then play their entire 50 overs.
New Zealand were 211 for five against India in 46.1 overs when rain stopped play in the first World Cup semifinal, on Tuesday, 9 July. And after four and a half hours of waiting and watching, play had to eventually be abandoned for the day.
Earlier, the Kiwis had endured a sluggish start after opting to bat, before Ross Taylor took them past the 200-run mark with an unbeaten 67-run knock. On a difficult pitch, skipper Kane Williamson scored 67 off 95 balls.
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