After five games, the law of averages doesn’t apply to this team so far. At the center of this powerful vortex, which engulfs everything in its path, lies Virat Kohli, the eye of the storm, the quiet epicenter, uniting the disparate elements, a high-altitude run chase and some stratospheric runs. Glue trying bravely to climb both of the marks. his sight.
A landmark ton of 49 tons, equaling Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI record, looked set to be achieved on Sunday, but Kohli faltered at 95 tons (104b, 8×4, 2×6) and went for a six but Matt We lost to Henry’s slow delivery and still had five shots left, which is what we needed for the win.
With his long tail exposed and captain Rohit Sharma looking on in disbelief, at the other end Ravindra Jadeja (39 not out 44, 3×4, 1×6) calmly scored the winning goal to seal the semi-final. quelled the ghost of India’s defeat to the same team. In the 2019 edition.
Incidentally, this was Jadeja’s first time batting in a World Cup since this match. This victory not only broke a jinx dating back to 2003, but also fulfilled a number of important conditions in the process.
Firstly, India has a veteran pacer who can come off the bench and break the Kiwi resistance with his fifer. Mohamed Shami So was his 5/54. Shami showed that there is no substitute for the skill of a specialist in tense matches. India needed two players, Shami and Suryakumar Yadav, to replace the injured Hardik Pandya, and they made the most of the deal.
Rarely does a team have so many cricketers who have the ability to perform at their best when needed, but Surya sacrificed his wicket for Kohli in some chaotic scenes. He missed Sunday. The sacrifice was well worth it, as the ‘Chase Master’ once again staged a tricky chase on a pitch with unstable bounce under high altitude conditions, proving that he is still a key player in this batting order.
All else needed is to set a fast tempo with the bat, like Rohit Sharma does match by match, or bat around him like KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja did on Sunday.
This template has worked like a charm for Chase so far, as it has for years.
Kohli’s consistency is amazing. He absorbs pressure with his rotational strikes, brushes off bad balls towards the boundary, can also square drive good balls or lunge from the ground towards the pacer, eliminating the concept of rampant confusion. You can defeat the target by eliminating it. Kohli is still relentlessly pushing both this team and his ambitions forward.
Even the conditions that India didn’t check – chief spinner Kuldeep Yadav leaking runs and failing to convert chances in the middle overs, shockingly poor catching coming into view, Shreyas It’s like Iyer’s ego got the better of him and he was short-changed again. — didn’t hurt them.
Daryl Mitchell’s brilliant counter-attacking 127-ball 130 could not get his team over the line and Shami stopped the flow.
India were 230/5 in the 41st over, needing 44 more off 54 balls, with only the long tail left, but the nervous crowd, sensing the moment, came alive and chanted “Kohli, Kohli”. Their chants injected energy into the match. It was about the man again.
Will 49 tons happen? But this was not as settled as the Bangladesh case, and Jadeja had other ideas. He once again showed his worth by dancing in front of Rachin Ravindra, who had previously formed a great partnership with Mitchell. The shot went well past midwicket for six as the fielder slipped near the boundary line, but it was undoubtedly negated by the poor condition of the Dharamshala outfield.
Still, Kohli went for it but ended up taking one too many shots.
New-ball spells from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj tied the Kiwis and sealed victory in the first over of the match. Tensions were high after Devon Conway fell early, and the Kiwi batting line-up struggled in the initial powerplay, allowing the two pacers to settle for length.
It was only when Mitchell came in and showed the courage to stand outside the crease and dance down the wicket that the run began.
Shami did the rest of the job, taking a wicket with his first ball in the World Cup and posing a happy question to the team management.
It was no easy victory, but India seems to be looking beyond the norm. Even Okagiri, which descended on the team late in the evening and disrupted the match for about 15 minutes, was unable to break the lead.
(AI image)
