In a highly-anticipated World Cup showdown held at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala, India emerged victorious with a four-wicket win over New Zealand. Earlier in the contest, New Zealand, led by Daryl Mitchell’s outstanding century, established a challenging target of 274 runs for India.
In the picturesque Himalayan town of Dharamsala, New Zealand, after being asked to bat first, faced an early setback with the loss of their opening batsmen. However, Daryl Mitchell (130) and Rachin Ravindra (75) forged a formidable partnership of 159 runs, resurrecting their innings.
This partnership not only resuscitated New Zealand’s innings but also set a new record for the highest partnership between the two teams in a World Cup, surpassing the previous best of 136 runs set by Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth back in 1987.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami played a pivotal role in the final 10 overs, claiming 5 wickets for 54 runs in his tournament debut. His fellow paceman, Mohammed Siraj, made valuable contributions by dismissing Devon Conway for a duck and Will Young for 17, reducing New Zealand to a precarious 19-2.
Rachin Ravindra, a left-handed batsman with Indian roots, departed in the 34th over, but Daryl Mitchell continued to lead New Zealand’s scoring and notched his fifth ODI century. Despite the losses of Ravindra and skipper Tom Latham for just five runs, thanks to Kuldeep Yadav’s two wickets, Mitchell remained a resilient pillar for New Zealand’s innings.
Runs became harder to come by for New Zealand, and they also lost Glenn Phillips after he scored 23 runs. Shami came close to achieving a hat-trick but narrowly missed it when Lockie Ferguson managed to avoid it. However, Shami eventually dismissed Mitchell on the penultimate ball of the innings, securing his second five-wicket haul in World Cup matches. New Zealand’s final wicket fell on the last ball of the 50th over when Lockie Ferguson was run out.
Both India and New Zealand had won four games each in the round-robin tournament, with New Zealand leading the 10-team table due to a superior run-rate.