Courtesy of a brilliant 95 from Virat Kohli, India finally defeated New Zealand after almost 20 years in an ICC tournament. India won the game by four wickets against the Kiwis and remains the only unbeaten team in this World Cup. The hosts have won 5 out of 5 games and are currently on the top of the table.

Earlier, India won the toss and elected to field first. New Zealand lost their openers Devon Conway and Will Young earlier at the start with Siraj and Shami getting the wickets. Rachin Ravindra the man in form then paired up with Daryl Mitchell and steadied the innings.

Both the batters scored a brilliant fifties and were comfortably eyeing for a big knock. Both the batters took on the Indian spinners increasing the pressure on India as they were playing with only five bowlers. Kuldeep was expensive in his first spell, Ravindra Jadeja completed his spell in 30 overs, bowling 10 overs on the trot and ending with figures of 0/48.

The partnership between Ravindra and Mitchell went past 150 when Bumrah dropped Mitchell at the boundary and the ball went over for the four. Later Shami dismissed Rachin on 75(87) and there was a sigh of relief for the bowler. Kuldeep who was the expensive bowler for India scalped two important wickets of skipper Tom Latham and Glenn Philips.

Daryl Mitchell played a crucial knock for the Kiwis scoring 130 off 127. At first, the Kiwis were eyeing a 300+ score but with India’s consistent bowling and giving no room for the batters they controlled New Zealand on 274 with Shami making his sensational comeback by taking a five-wicket haul.

In reply to the total, Indian openers played attacking cricket at the start. The pair only dealt in boundaries all over the ground and added 71 runs for the first wicket before Lockie Ferguson dismissed Rohit for 46(40) and Gill in the next half of his spell for 26(31).

Later Virat Kohli along with Shreyas Iyer steadied the innings. Iyer was dismissed shortly on 33 by Boult on a bouncer which is the weakness of Shreyas Iyer. Later, Kl Rahul was also dismissed on 27 by Mitchell Santner, and Surya Kumar Yadav was run out at a score of 2. But the chase master was determined to finish the game yet again for India. Both Virat and Jadeja regained India’s dominance in the match with a crucial 68-run partnership.

Virat played a crucial knock of 95 runs but missed on his well-deserved 49th century by five runs. Ravindra Jadeja finished the game with an unbeaten 39 off 44 ensuring India wins the game comfortably.

Virat Kohli is now the highest run scorer in this tournament with 354 runs in just 5 games. Mohammed Shami for his brilliant spell of 10-54-5 was adjudged as the Player of the Match. India will next face England next Sunday in Lucknow.

The post CWC 2023, India vs New Zealand: India unbeaten, win the game by 4 wickets first appeared on India Sports News.