In the Semi Final 1 of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, India and New Zealand squared off. India was looking to take revenge for their defeat in 2019, knocking them out of the tournament. India won the toss and opted to bat first. Rohit Sharma, the skipper, chose to bat and, as he has done all tournament long, set the tone early. India had a flying start, and the Kiwis were behind from the opening over. With a shout, KW put an end to his opponent’s knock, and New Zealand would have been relieved. India, however, had other plans. Kohli was able to get going when Gill started to become the aggressor. Regretfully, the heat in Mumbai caused the former to retire hurt, forcing him to depart the field at 79. At that point, Kohli and Iyer forged an enormous alliance. They consistently maintained the momentum by scoring boundaries. They each achieved their milestones. Kohli scored 117 (113) while Shreyas bagged 105 off 70 balls. 

With his historic 50th ODI century, Kohli eclipsed Sachin Tendulkar. Iyer, however, achieved his second consecutive century. Amazing batting performance from India. The New Zealanders had no luck at all. After Santner struggled in his first seven overs, the Kohli-Iyer combination was able to dismiss him when he bowled well. After Santner went wicketless, the Indians simply put their foot down and went crazy. Iyer amused himself by hitting many massive sixes, and Rahul added the last few runs to bring the total to 397-4 in 50 overs.
In reply to this mammoth total, New Zealand lost Conway early in the 6th over and Rachin Ravindra in the 8th over to Shami. Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell stabilise New Zealand’s run rate and scoreboard with an 181-run stand. The duo tried to bring NZ back into the chase and gave India a tough fight. However, Rohit brought Shami back into the attack who first dismissed Williamson 69 (73) and Tom Latham 0 (2) in the same over. However, Daryl Mitchell kept giving the Indian bowlers back-to-back boundaries and kept the NZ’s scoreboard moving. In 42 overs, NZ was at 288-4 and needed almost 14 runs an over. The win percentage kept swinging between the two teams. However, India had the upper hand. In the 43rd over, Bumrah dismissed Glenn Phillips 41 (33), bringing NZ to 295-5. Soon, Kuldeep sent Chapman 2 (5) back to the pavilion in the 44th over. NZ needed 92 in 30 balls. Shami came back to the attack and dismissed the danger-looking Mitchell 134 (119), breaking NZ’s hope and bringing India back to the driving seat. At the end of the 46th over, NZ needed 90 off 24. Siraj removed Santner 9 (10), bringing NZ to 319/8 in 47.5 overs. Kiwis needed 78 runs in 12 balls; the match was already in the hands of Team India. 

India enters the ICC Cricket World Cup final 2023 with 70 runs win over New Zealand. Shami took 7 wickets in the match, becoming the first Indian bowler to do so in the ODI cricket world cup. 

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