India have beaten New Zealand in an ICC event. It has taken 2 decades for that sentence to come true. It did come true, however, at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 where the Men in Blue beat the Kiwis by 4 wickets at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday (October 22). While India restricted the Blackcaps to 273 even after they looked set for a lot more at one stage, they chased down their target with 12 balls remaining.
India won the toss and elected to field first. They also got couple of early wickets with Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami striking within the first powerplay. However, 159-run stand between Rachin Ravindra (75 off 87) and Daryl Mitchell (130 off 127) appeared to set the base for a massive Kiwi total. But led by Shami, who was playing his first match in the tournament due to forced change in the team's balance with an injury to Hardik Pandya, India dried up the runs in the last 10 while picking wickets at regular intervals.
Shami eventually finished with figures of 5/54. Kuldeep Yadav did not have the best of outings but still managed to take 2 wickets for 73 runs. Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah were other wicket-takers finishing with figures of 2/45 each. In the run chase, Rohit Sharma set the tone with his attacking 46 off 40. However, India did have a few tensed moments in the chase but with Virat Kohli the chase master in the side, the Men in Blue never lost control. He made 95 off 104 and got out only trying to finish off the match with a six to complete his century. Contributions from Shubman Gill (26), Shreyas Iyer (33), KL Rahul (27) and in the end, Jadeja's 39 off 44 took India past their bogey team in a world event
For New Zealand, Lockie Ferguson picked 2 wickets for 63 runs off his 8 overs, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult and Matt Henry picked a wicket each while a run-out after a massive mix-up between Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav (2 off 4) cut short the latter's stay at the first wicket in his first match in World Cup. The win means India are the only team this World Cup that have not lost a match yet. With 5 wins from 5 matches, India have gone to the top of the points table while the Blackcaps slip to the second.