Manchester, July 10: New Zealand produced a remarkable bowling display and held their nerve under late pressure to inflict a stunning 18-run Cricket World Cup semi-final defeat on India at Old Trafford.
India's top order collapsed as the Black Caps reached the showpiece match for the second World Cup running, leaving the dreams of Virat Kohli's side and their army of followers in tatters.
With play having carried into the reserve day after rain on Tuesday, the Black Caps resumed on 211-5 and added another 28 runs for the loss of three wickets in 3.5 overs.
That left a tricky winning target of 240 in testing conditions, but India's reply immediately hit trouble in the shape of Matt Henry and Trent Boult, who decimated a usually lethal batting line-up, ensuring Ravindra Jadeja's explosive knock down the order came in a losing effort.
A flurry of wickets in the closing overs saw Kohli's men dismissed for 221, meaning New Zealand will face England or Australia in the final.
Here's how the match panned out:
Williamson, the winning captain: It's a different feeling, to be fair. The surfaces and the way we had to skin it, has been different to the last World Cup we experienced. Have a really good bunch of guys. A tough game, tough semifinal and really pleased to be on the right side of things. It was really tough. We had to assess conditions quickly and I think both sides felt that it wasn't a high-scoring track. We thought that 240-250 will help us to put India under pressure. The guys were able to do that in the middle and at the back end without going too hard. Lot of it was on the conditions, with the rain around yesterday and whether it changed the conditions. With the new ball, our bowlers try to move the ball off the seam or in the air. Need to put pressure on that world class batting line-up of India. We knew that when the track slowed down, we had to squeeze. They showed why they are a world-class side when they took it really deep to a position where they could have won it through MS and Jadeja.
Matt Henry | Man of the Match | 10-1-37-3: In the break, we talked about making sure we do the best we can and play the we wanted to play. We started well with the ball and created a lot of pressure. We had to ask a lot of questions against that world-class batting line-up. We knew we had to create pressure against that batting line-up but we also knew that this was a difficult wicket to bat on and it was holding up a little bit. We brought ourselves on and if we could create a few early chances, anything could happen. Hardik and Dhoni, the way they batted with Jadeja to come in, we know they are world-class finishers. We needed to finish off well and get them out before it went too deep. Very special to earn ourselves a Lord's final, thanks to all the New Zealand supporters out there. We are looking forward to the final on Sunday.
Direct hit from Guptill and MS Dhoni gets run for 50 and India's hopes of remaining in this game have goe.
0,1,1,1,1,1! Just 5 came from Matt Henry's last over. India reach 203/6 in 47 overs. They need 37 off 18 balls. Run rate reaches 12.3 per over
200 comes up for India in 46.3 overs. The asking rate has reached 12 per over now.
10 runs came from that Boult over. India reach 198/6 in 46 overs. They still need 42 from 24 balls at 10.5 runs per over.
100-run partnership between Dhoni and Jadeja. It came off just 97 deliveries. India still have a lot to do.
10 came from that Ferguson over. India reach 188/6 in 45 overs. 52 needed from 30 balls.
SIX!! Ravindra Jadeja hits Ferguson over long-off for a maximum. Excellent shot from him under pressure.
2,0,0,2,1,Wd,1! 7 runs came from that over. India reach 178/6 in 44 overs. They need 62 from 36 balls.
India reach 171/6 in 43 overs. They need 69 off 42 deliveries. The asking rate has reached 9+
50! Ravindra Jadeja gets to his 11th ODI fifty off 39 deliveries. And the cross-sword celebration is on display in Manchester.
FIFTY UP!
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) July 10, 2019
Ravi Jadeja is doing something very special here, bringing up his half-century off 39 balls. Can he continue with the job?
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SIX!! Ravindra Jadeja has hammered Santner for another biggie. India reach 159/6 in 41 overs. 81 needed from 54 balls.
150 up for India in the 40th over. Jadeja and Dhoni's partnership has kept the hopes of the fans alive at Manchester. They need 90 off 60 balls.
50-run partnership between Dhoni and Jadeja.
Partnership 53. Still a long way off but happy to see the approach. Since he bats in the top order in Ranji Trophy cricket, Jadeja thinks like a batsman.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 10, 2019
SIX!! Ravindra Jadeja walks down the ground and hammers him over long-off for a maximum. India need 100 more to win off 68 deliveries.
India need 109 off 71 balls. The required run rate has climbed above 9 runs per over.
India - 123/6 in 36 overs.
India need 117 runs from 84 balls, with four wickets in hand.
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) July 10, 2019
Rohit is all India fans right now. #INDvNZ | #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/EgtvA7U3pp
1,1,0,2,1,0! 5 runs came from that Santner over. India reach 119/6 in 35 overs. Jadeja-Dhoni are present in the middle. 121 needed from 90 deliveries.
India reach 106/6 in 33 overs. They need 134 runs from 17 overs. New Zealand are right on top in this game.
SIX!! First maximum of the innings. Ravindra Jadeja hits James Neesham over long-on.
HUGE!
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) July 10, 2019
What a shot from Jadeja as he charges Neesham and smashes it over long on.
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Wicket! Hardik Pandya (32) goes for a reckless shot off Santner and Williamson takes a well-judged catch. The spinner lures yet another batsman to attempt a big shot and reaps the benefit. India - 92/6 in 30.3 overs.
Wicket! Poor shot from Rishabh Pant (32) and Colin de Grandhomme takes a simple catch in the deep. India - 71/5 in 22.5 overs
Oh, Rishabh, patience throws up many opportunities. Was such a good innings till then.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 10, 2019
Four! Pant gets a boundary on the final delivery of the 20th over. India - 70/4 in 20 overs. Since 20 overs are completed it means this game is going to have a result.
India 70/4 after 20 overs means that we will now have a result in this game.
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 10, 2019
BTW as per DLS India's par score is 110 (behind by 40 runs)#SemiFinal1 #CWC19 #CWC2019#IndvNZ #IndvsNZ#NZvInd #NZvsInd
After 15 overs, India are crawling at the moment. They've reached 43 for 4. New Zealand pacers have dominated the game exceedingly well and never allowed the Indians to settle down.
What an astonishing performance from Matt Henry - there's been swing, and he's been ruthless. 64% of his balls today have been on a good length, drawing batsmen forward and allowing the movement to deceive them. He's never found a good length as often in an opening spell. #CWC19
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) July 10, 2019
DROPPED! Jimmy Neesham drops Rishabh Pant on 18 off Lockie Ferguson.
Sanjay Manjrekar comes down heavily on Rahul and Karthik's approach.
It’s ok for Virat to get out, it’s ok for Rohit to get out, not ok for people like Rahul and Karthik to get out like this...too much time has been invested in them for limited returns.#ICCCWC2019
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 10, 2019
Wicket! James Neesham takes a blinder at point and with that Dinesh Karthik's innings comes to an end at 6. This was the fielder's wicket. India - 24/4 in 10 overs. They are in all sorts of trouble now.
WOW!
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) July 10, 2019
An incredible catch from Neesham and India fall further into trouble.
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Four! Dinesh Karthik gets off the mark with a boundary towards thirdman. He took 21 deliveries to open his account.
21 balls later, and Dinesh Karthik is off the mark with a boundary!
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) July 10, 2019
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Virat Kohli's Runs in 3 WC Semi-Finals! 9 vs Pakistan at Mohali #CWC11 1 vs Australia at Sydney #CWC15 1 vs New Zealand at Manchester #CWC19 Total runs: 11