In a highly-anticipated World Cup match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala, India secured a four-wicket victory over New Zealand. Earlier in the match, New Zealand, led by Daryl Mitchell’s brilliant century, set a competitive target of 274 runs for India.
After being asked to bat first in the Himalayan hill town of Dharamsala, New Zealand lost their openers early. However, Daryl Mitchell (130) and Rachin Ravindra (75) built a partnership of 159 runs to revive the innings.
This partnership set a new record for the highest stand between the two teams in a World Cup, surpassing the previous best of 136 runs by Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth in 1987.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami played a crucial role in the final 10 overs, taking 5 wickets for 54 runs in his first appearance at the tournament. His fellow paceman, Mohammed Siraj, also contributed by dismissing Devon Conway for a duck and Will Young for 17, which led New Zealand to a score of 19-2.
Left-handed batsman Rachin Ravindra, who has Indian roots, departed in the 34th over, but Daryl Mitchell continued to push the scoring and reached his fifth ODI century.
Despite losing Ravindra and skipper Tom Latham for just five runs off Kuldeep Yadav, who took two wickets, Mitchell continued to anchor New Zealand’s innings.
Runs became hard to come by for New Zealand, and they also lost Glenn Phillips for 23.
Shami had an opportunity for a hat-trick, but Lockie Ferguson managed to avoid it. However, Shami eventually dismissed Mitchell on the penultimate ball of the innings, completing his second five-wicket haul in World Cup matches.
New Zealand lost their final wicket on the last ball of the 50th over when Lockie Ferguson was run out.
Both India and New Zealand have won four games each in the round-robin tournament, but New Zealand leads the 10-team table due to a superior run-rate.
