Mohammed Shami picked seven New Zealand wickets to help India register a 70-run victory at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. Chasing the home side’s 397/4, Kane Williamson’s gritty New Zealand fought valiantly to the end. When it was alleged that India tried to take advantage by opting for spin-friendly track, it was a fast bowler that made the ball talk.
Daryl Mitchell made 134 from 119 balls while kipper Kane Williamson scored 69 from 73 after the Kiwi openers failed to fire. Glenn Phillips also kept last edition’s runners-up going with a 33-ball 41 but failed to get their team past the line.
Mohammed Shami, who picked up a wicket with his first delivery of the game is now the leading wicket-taker of the tournament — despite having played the least number of games among all bowlers in the top ten!
The pacer got rid of dangerous openers Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra early in the innings. But New Zealand found some wind on their sail through a 181-run stand between captain Kane Williamson (69) and centurion Daryl Mitchell.
India needed a wicket to break the momentum and Shami, in fact, gave two. He ousted Williamson and Tom Latham in successive balls in the 33rd over to hamper the Black Caps. In the process, he also completed 50 wickets in the World Cup.
Earlier, Virat Kohli scored the 50th ODI ton of his career to become the first batter ever to achieve the feat before Shreyas Iyer made it past the three-digit mark to power India to the huge total.
Kohli scaled the highest peak in ODI batting and was the centerpiece of India’s domination with his third century of this World Cup, scoring 117 off 113 balls with nine fours and two sixes. Kohli (713) also became the highest run-getter in a single edition of World Cup, again surpassing the legendary Tendulkar (623 run in 2003)
