Like the endearing warmth of the fireplace in a cold Himalayan cottage, India too found its comfort zone up in the hills. Virat Kohli (95, 104b, 8×4, 2×6) played the shepherd guiding his flock, and chasing New Zealand’s 273, the Men in Blue coasted home with a four-wicket victory. India finished with 274 for six in 48 overs in a key World Cup game at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on October 22.

The pursuit shimmered bright in the beginning as skipper Rohit Sharma whipped and lofted Trent Boult, and hoisted and scooped Matt Henry. Shubman Gill, meanwhile, drove with elan, and India moved to 63 for no loss in 10 overs. A false note occurred when Rohit (46) chopped Lockie Ferguson onto his stumps.

Next man Kohli punched Ferguson for four but Gill failed to get past the waiting third-man fielder. The clouds then descended and the cricketers admired nature’s tapestry. Despite the mist, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer got some runs but when visibility declined, a short break was imposed.

On resumption, Shreyas succumbed to Boult. Kohli watched K.L. Rahul tuck into Rachin Ravindra’s spin. The last-named then felt the heat of Kohli’s blade, an inside-out lofted strike flew into the skies and when Henry steamed in, he was drilled away with disdain.

Mitchell Santner prised out Rahul and the worry-lines popped up once Suryakumar Yadav got run-out. India was delicately placed at 191 for five but Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja ensured that there were no further alarms. A garland of muscular hits against Boult found Kohli nearly galloping towards his ton before he fell at the last stretch but by then he had left India at the cusp of a special triumph.

In the afternoon as vehicles crawled up narrow hill roads and boisterous fans disembarked in their blue shade, Rohit won the toss and elected to field. India stepped in with two changes as Mohammed Shami and Suryakumar replaced Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur.

Devon Conway, watchful against Jasprit Bumrah, flicked Mohammed Siraj to a diving Shreyas. With Conway dismissed for nought and Shami’s first ball in the current World Cup forcing Will Young to drag one onto his stumps, New Zealand needed an alliance.

The situation could have become worse but in a rare episode of Ravindra dropping Ravindra, Jadeja grassed Rachin, when the latter was on 12 while Shami rued his bad luck. A partnership emerged between Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell with the highlight being their massive sixes off Kuldeep Yadav. The pair survived vociferous appeals and bonded for more than 20 overs.

Mitchell, had his lucky break on 69 with Bumrah dropping him off an aggrieved Kuldeep. The 159-run third-wicket alliance concluded when Ravindra (75) holed out in the deep off Shami. Kuldeep then trapped New Zealand skipper Tom Latham while Mitchell cruised towards his hundred.

The centurion watched fickle companions leave as Shami clattered stumps. Mitchell (130, 127b, 9×4, 5×6) became Shami’s fifth victim (five for 54) as India kept the visitors under 300. It proved within reach as Kohli played the lead star.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND: Devon Conway c Shreyas b Siraj 0 (9b), Will Young b Shami 17 (27b, 3×4), Rachin Ravindra c Gill b Shami 75 (87b, 6×4, 1×6), Daryl Mitchell c Kohli b Shami 130 (127b, 9×4, 5×6), Tom Latham lbw b Kuldeep 5 (7b, 1×4), Glenn Phillips c Rohit b Kuldeep 23 (26b, 1×6), Mark Chapman c Kohli b Bumrah 6 (8b), Mitchell Santner b Shami 1 (2b), Matt Henry b Shami 0 (1b), Lockie Ferguson run out 1 (5b), Trent Boult (not out) 0 (1b); Extras (b-3, lb-5, w-7): 15.

Total (in 50 overs): 273.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (Conway, 3.3 overs), 2-19 (Young, 8.1), 3-178 (Ravindra, 33.3), 4-205 (Latham, 36.5), 5-243 (Phillips, 44.2), 6-257 (Chapman, 46.6), 7-260 (Santner, 47.4), 8-260 (Henry, 47.5), 9-273 (Mitchell, 49.5).

INDIA BOWLING: Bumrah 10-1-45-1, Siraj 10-1-45-1, Shami 10-0-54-5, Jadeja 10-0-48-0, Kuldeep 10-0-73-2.

INDIA: Rohit Sharma b Ferguson 46 (40b, 4×4, 4×6), Shubman Gill c Mitchell b Ferguson 26 (31b, 5×4), Virat Kohli c Phillips b Henry 95 (104b, 8×4, 2×6), Shreyas Iyer c Conway b Boult 33 (29b, 6×4), K.L. Rahul lbw b Santner 27 (35b, 3×4), Suryakumar Yadav run out 2 (4b), Ravindra Jadeja (not out) 39 (44b, 3×4, 1×6), Mohammed Shami (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (lb-1, w-4): 5.

Total (for six wkts. in 48 overs): 274.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-71 (Rohit, 11.1), 2-76 (Gill, 13.2), 3-128 (Shreyas, 21.3), 4-182 (Rahul, 32.1), 5-191 (Suryakumar, 33.5), 6-269 (Kohli, 47.4).

NEW ZEALAND BOWLING: Boult 10-0-60-1, Henry 9-0-55-1, Santner 10-0-37-1, Ferguson 8-0-63-2, Ravindra 9-0-46-0, Phillips 2-0-12-0.

Toss: India.

PoM: Shami.

India won by four wickets with two overs to spare.

New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner celebrates a wicket during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between against Afghanistan
| Photo Credit: PTI

New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner feels assessing the conditions in Dharamsala and countering an in-form Rohit Sharma will be vital as they eye the “tough” task of beating India at home during their World Cup clash on Sunday.

New Zealand have done well to adapt to the different conditions in the World Cup. The Black Caps, who have won all four of their games in the tournament so far, have played in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai.

They will now fly to Dharamsala for the much-anticipated game against India, who are on a three-match winning streak.

“We know they’re going to obviously be a challenge at home. They look pretty tough to beat. We’ll have to do our assessment in Dharamsala – see what the wicket’s going to do.

“There has been a little pace and bounce. But whether that is the case when we play them, we’ll see,” Santner said after New Zealand’s 149-run win over Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Rohit has looked in imperious form at the top, playing brilliant knocks of 86 against Pakistan and 131 against Afghanistan to fashion huge victories.

“I think power play with the ball is going to be very important. The way Rohit’s kind of getting them off to a flyer. And so, I think we have to do similar stuff to what we’re doing.

“I guess you’re never going to play a perfect game so for us, it’s two points. That’s what we look to get out of every game depending on who we’re playing and what we’ve done well through this tournament is being able to adapt to different conditions.

“Every pitch we’ve played on has been slightly different. We have to treat it very similarly leading into the game against India, assess the conditions, see what’s going to work the best with ball, with bat, build those partnerships and try to take them deep and see what happens.”

Searching for their maiden title, New Zealand have so far beaten holders England, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, in the tournament.

“We’ve just got to kind of keep doing us, keep focused on the things we want to and how we want to play. And obviously, it’s nice to be in this position to lead into this game.

“We obviously know it’s such a long tournament, and one loss isn’t going to hurt you if you win the rest, or you kind of look at that at the start.” The Kiwis survived an early scare with the bat to post a respectable total of 288 for 6 and successfully defended it to secure a win over Afghanistan.

Santner believes the 144-run partnership between skipper Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips was the turning point.

“We know that every game is a tough game. Afghanistan today was no different. We started off pretty well, but there were moments in the game where we were battling a little bit.

“It was on a knife edge for a while, so it was nice to get to a score. I guess that partnership between Tom and GP was massive for us, and then it – pressure with the new ball always helps.”

CSK’s Santner and Conway enjoy home comfort at MA Chidambaram Stadium

Familiar with the conditions at the MA Chidambaram Stadium having played for the Chennai Super Kings, Santner had a spectacular game. The spin all-rounder took three scalps and plucked the ball midair to complete a stunning catch.

“I guess when we turn up here for IPL, we’ve played on wickets that kind of look similar to that. Today, it looked like it swung a little bit and actually spun a little bit more under lights, which kind of helped that we lost the toss and batted first,” he said.

“It’s nice to be playing here, watched a lot of games here and played the odd one, and speak for Dev (Conway) as well, it’s pretty cool to play in front of some loyal fans.” Ibrahim Zadran’s wicket saw Santner become just the second Black Caps spinner to reach 100 ODI dismissals, after former skipper Daniel Vettori.

“It’s nice to get to that milestone. I wasn’t thinking about it too much leading into the game. It’s just about trying to perform my role and do a job out there just like every other game.

It has been a general trend in this World Cup that the teams have been attacking more during the second powerplay with pacers. As for the New Zealanders, they have used Santner and pacer Lockie Ferguson in tandem.

“I guess that kind of the middle phase – the key is to try to take wickets. It’s challenging at times when teams use that phase to set up a platform and then have wickets in hand to attack the last 10-15 overs.”

“So, it’s nice for me when he’s (Ferguson) bowling 150 out of the other end because they might try to take me on a bit more and not face that. His role in the middle is to be aggressive and take wickets. And, on a day, if he is potentially going for runs, it might be more my job to kind of hold it.”