(From Dhananjaya Senaratne in Dubai)
Taking the full advantage of playing all their matches at Dubai Stadium, India defeated New Zealand by 44 runs in the Champions Trophy match on Sunday. India won all three matches in the preliminary round to top Group ‘A’ while New Zealand finished second.
India and Australia will play the first semi-final on the 4th March in Dubai. New Zealand will fly back to Lahore to take on South Africans in the second semi-final on the 5th March.
India scored 249 runs for the loss of 9 wickets before New Zealand was bowled out for 205 runs in the night. Kane Williamson scored 81 runs, but certainly not enough to take New Zealand home.
India is a team that easily can be considered as having the most powerful batting line up in the world today. In that context, it was a remarkable achievement by the New Zealand bowlers and especially their electric type fielders to keep them under 250.
Even when the last over began, Indians needed 06 runs to cross the 250-run mark. Matthew Henry bowled two wides and the Indian batsmen need only 04 runs. With Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami gone in the last over, the Indians had to settle at 249 for nine.
In this year’s Champions Trophy, any team could not cross the 250-run mark in Dubai. Moreover, in both the matches against Bangladesh and Pakistan, the team batting second was the victorious.
Knowing this information very well, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and sent the Indians to bat without any hesitation. However, it is somewhat doubtful whether the New Zealand skipper has paid any attention to the spinners in the opposition side.
Knowing the quality of New Zealand fielders very well, Indians got off to a more defensive start than in the previous two matches. Dubai pitch was not that friendly to batsmen and it was more on the slower side. The first two overs brought only 07 runs and the dismissal of Shubman Gill in the third over confirmed the Indian captain’s suspicions.
Virat Kohli couldn’t believe his own eyes when Glenn Phillips plucked a blinder at backward point. Kohli cut powerfully as the ball was short and wide. It was a rank lose delivery but Glenn Phillips flung himself to the right in fractions of a second, with his eyes intact with the ball. Even after the ball had passed the fielder, Phillips reached it and grabbed single handedly. Kohli, walked back to the pavilion with his eyes wide open.
Kohli’s dismissal saw India’s third wicket fell within 30 runs. However, the Indians were somewhat relieved by the 98-run partnership by Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel.
The biggest factor of controlling the Indian batsmen was the excellent fielding by the New Zealanders. The run flow was extremely slow as there were 51 balls between the fourth and fifth boundaries. Kane Williamson, who was fielding at backward point after Glenn Phillips, did not let Hardik Pandya move. Williamson then plucked a ball flying over his head to send Ravindra Jadeja back to the pavilion.
The pitch had become very slow by the 30th over. Scoring was increasingly difficult. Shreyas Iyer completed his half-century amidst all these challenges. His innings of 98 balls included four boundaries and couple of sixes. Iyer, who dealt well with the short balls, refrained from pulling on many occasions, eventually succumbed to yet another shorter one from William O’Rourke.
India was 185 for 6 after 40 overs. However, they scored 64 runs in the last 10 overs, to get closer the 250-run mark. Hardik Pandya, scoring 45 off 45 balls, and Ravindra Jadeja, with 16 off 20 balls, did a great job with their bats.
Be the first to comment