Unbeaten India on Wednesday passed their first real test at the Cricket World Cup in their semi-final against New Zealand and the hosts are hoping that the win over their bogey team will battle-harden them for Sunday’s final.
India arrived at the Wankhede Stadium, where they lifted their second and most recent World Cup trophy in 2011, looking invincible, winning all nine round-robin matches without any stiff challenge, including a four-wicket win over New Zealand.
However, the Black Caps had ended India’s strong run at the same stage of the 2019 edition, while Kane Williamson’s team also beat them in the inaugural World Test Championship final two years ago.
Photo: AP
India had also exited the 2015 edition of the ODI World Cup at the semi-final stage with a defeat to Australia.
“Today being the semi-finals, I wouldn’t say that there was no pressure,” India captain Rohit Sharma told host broadcaster Star Sports, adding that the team wanted to treat the match as just another round-robin game.
“Whenever you play the game, there is always pressure and obviously, semi-final adds a bit of extra there, but I think the guys were doing the job,” Sharma said.
Photo: AFP
As Daryl Mitchell and Williamson grew in confidence during their third-wicket stand of 181 in New Zealand’s chase of 398, the stadium went silent while millions of fans across the country probably wondered if the Black Caps would be the cause of another heartbreak for India.
“It was important to stay calm. At one point, the crowd went absolutely silent, that’s the nature of the game, but we knew that we had to pull something up from our sleeves and need a magic, either a good catch or a run out or maybe a magic delivery,” Sharma said.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami provided that touch of magic with 7-57 — the best figures by an India player in an ODI and also his third five-wicket haul in the tournament, taking him to the top wicket-takers list with 23.
Photo: Reuters
India were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field against New Zealand, with Shami dropping a fairly simple catch off Williamson, Ravindra Jadeja giving away overthrows and the hosts also muddling up run-out opportunities.
Sharma will be hoping that his team leave the mistakes behind as they head to Ahmedabad for the final.
“We knew there would be pressure on us at some stage. We just had to stay collected. That’s what we did. We were very calm even though we were sloppy in the field, but that can happen,” Sharma said. “We’ve got nine perfect games on the field. So these things are bound to happen, but I’m glad that we could get the job done in the end.”
Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, New Zealand said that they are confident they have the foundations in place to continue to compete with the elite at the World Cup, even if they could be without Williamson and a few other generational talents when the next edition comes around.
Williamson, who has played in four World Cup semi-finals and two finals, will be 37 when southern Africa hosts the quadrennial showpiece in 2027, while strike bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult will be 38.
Williamson laughed when the matter was raised at his post-match news conference
“Are you going to talk about how old we are?” he joked, adding that he saw signs the ageing world-class talent were bringing along younger players.
“It’s been an ongoing effort as a side to keep trying to get better and push the boundaries of where we can get to as a team and all those people are part of that,” he said.
“You can only hope that, as we experienced from some of our leaders as young guys, that we can continue to bring players through,” he added.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
VALUABLE POINT: Relegation-threatened Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico. “There were a lot of things that
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
RSS