Fairy tales do come true; we didn’t jinx it as the players of more than 1.4 billion people worked their magic. The stadium echoed with ‘India! India!’ as the nation reached the final in a very comfortable manner. India completed the revenge of 2019 when New Zealand shattered the dreams of M.S. Dhoni and the entire nation.
In the very beginning, India continued their excellent batting form. Rohit provided a solid start, and after his departure, Gill and Kohli managed to build a strong foundation. As Gill left the pitch with a minor injury, Shreyas Iyer adeptly replaced him.
Kohli also managed to set the record for 50 ODI centuries, and Iyer scored his consecutive ton. The runs flowed, and India set a total of 397 for just 4 wickets.
New Zealand, on the other hand, had a disaster in terms of bowling, and their batting had a slow and bad start. Both openers were dismissed before crossing the total of 40, but New Zealand is no quitter.
It is Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell who turned the scenario around. They set up a strong partnership in a complete ice and fire manner. Williamson stabilized the innings as Mitchell managed to hit some long shots.
Williamson’s department managed to slow New Zealand’s innings a lot as the bowlers became really economical. Especially one over by Siraz where he consistently threw great wide Yorkers, seemed really strategic and effective.
Jadeja also did his part as ‘sor’ had quick and effective spells and managed to be fairly economical. Shane was also having a dream spell as he also managed to bag 50 wickets in his World Cup career.
In reality, New Zealand’s batting was as good as you can expect. They were no match for India, but against any other opponent, NZ would have been the winning team. It was India’s strategic bowling that should be credited as consistency in terms of line and length; the blues managed to defend their humongous total.
Just before 45 overs, NZ crossed their 300-run mark; they were showing progress but were too late to the party. In the last 5 overs, NZ needed 92 runs. In the age of big hitting and T20, it wasn’t impossible indeed but unimaginable to chase.
NZ started to hit some desperate shots as Mitchell tried to hit a few big shots. But Sir Jadega stayed as a human magnet, had a hat trick of catches, can he be more consistent in the field? Shami also completed his five-wicket haul with the departure of the Kiwi’s batting pillar Mitchell. Shami had no plans to stop there as he managed to grab seven in total.
Team India, take a bow. The team managed to wrap up NZ in 327 runs, winning by a margin of 70. What a match!
There was one time when NZ was dreaming of actually turning the table; it looked probable. But the Indian mantra worked; the boys in blue showed why they deserve to win the cup, they showed why they are the favorites, they are on the hunt to be the champions of the world on their own soil.
As the whole stadium sang Vande Mataram, the lights dimmed slowly and India’s fate in the World Cup got a whole lot brighter. India reaches the final, once again. They will be fighting it out with either Australia or South Africa, but whoever they play, the other party will indeed be the underdog as India can’t look stronger.
