- विज्ञापन -
Mumbai: Mohammad Shami’s seven-fer and scintillating centuries by Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer helped India storm through the finals of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup after defeating New Zealand by 70 runs in the first semifinals of the tournament at Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.
With this win, India awaits the winner of South Africa and Australia in the second semifinals of the tournament to be played at the iconic Eden Gardens today. The finals will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday.India’s victories most of the times have been headlined by the Indian batsmen, but this World Cup their bowlers have been on the dot, specially led by Shami who has been phenomenal in this tournament. And to take seven wickets on a wicket where the batsmen ruled the roost scoring 724 runs.
It was an incredibly unforgettable piece of history, considering Shami was benched in the early stages of the tournament. And he grabbed the opportunity coming his way, delivered in his very first match of this tournament, and made Captain Rohit Sharma feel strong in Hardik Pandya’s absence.
Shami struck in his very first ball and then followed it up in the next over. It was top-notch seam bowling under lights and he nipped out both the New Zealand openers who were caught behind. He redeemed in style when India was under pressure for the first time in the tournament as centurion Daryl Mitchell and half-centurion Kane Williamson stitched an incredible 181 runs stand for third wicket.
Shami provided the key breakthrough by removing Williamson and trapping Tom Latham lbw in the same over. He finished with dreams figures of 7/57, making him the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, with 24 from six games at a breathtaking average of 9.13.
