India’s famed top-order imploded on a day when it mattered most as a gritty New Zealand survived a swift counter attack from Ravindra Jadeja to win an exciting World Cup semi-final by 18 runs, here Wednesday.
Jadeja (77 off 59 balls) used every ounce of his ‘bits andpieces’ skill but the ‘men in blue’ could only get as far as 221 in 49.3 oversin pursuit of 240.
New Zealand made it to their second successive final, withcredit going to their pacers’ — Matt Henry (3/37) and Trent Boult’s (2/42) —deadly opening spell and Lockie Ferguson’s steely nerve in the penultimateover.
The script was eerily similar to the 2015 World Cupsemi-final and just like that evening in Sydney, skipper Virat Kohli was onceagain out cheaply and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (50) was stuck in the middle overs.
Mitchell Santner (2/34) bottled Dhoni up and there was toomuch left for Jadeja to do even as he smacked four sixes and four boundaries toraise hopes of a turnaround.
The recovery post 24 for four was wee bit too much.
The chase wasn’t a big one but Henry’s first spell did upsetthe applecart once and for all.
Man of the Moment, Rohit Sharma (1) got a delivery fromHenry that squared him up as it straightened after pitching. The nick was takenby Tom Latham.
Kohli (1) looked edgy against Boult, who angled a coupleacross the Indian captain before bringing his stock delivery that swung in.
KL Rahul (1) has never been comfortable against quality seamand swing bowling. It was no different today as Henry bowled one on the goodlength that deviated late and the opener failed to take his bat away withLatham taking a diving catch.
At 5 for 3, India have had their worst start of thetournament and it just got even worse when Jimmy Neesham’s outstanding effortat backward point ended Dinesh Karthik’s (6 off 25 balls) misery.
Rishabh Pant (32) and Hardik Pandya (32) then steadied theship with a 47 run stand with the left-hander hitting some crisp drives throughthe off-side cordon.
Just when they seemed to have got settled, Pant’simpetuosity cost India dearly as his slog sweep was taken by Colin deGrandhomme off Santner.
When Pandya was also gone, trying to slog Santner, the endlooked near but Jadeja, who joined Dhoni had other ideas.
Earlier, New Zealand’s struggles continued on a fresh day as they finished on 239 for 8. Resuming at 211 for 5, the Black Caps could add only 28 runs to their overnight tally with a single boundary being hit off the remaining 23 balls. PTI