IND vs NZ Update!! A crucial toss won. 397 runs on the board. Bowling second under the lights at the Wankhede, a venue notorious for making past games a no-contest in 15 overs with a gun bowling attack. If you were an Indian fan after the innings break, you could be forgiven for thinking that the game’s outcome was a foregone conclusion. And while that outcome was a 70-run Indian win, the Men in Blue were made to sweat for it in what was their most challenging game in this tournament.

That has meant that India’s unbeaten streak this World Cup has gone to 10, and they have booked their place in the final on Sunday. They have also managed to break the wretched streak of not beating the Kiwis in an ICC knockout tournament and will now sit back and wait for their opponents for Sunday’s showpiece event.

Here are the talking points after an enthralling evening’s action from the IND vs NZ match!!

IND vs NZ: The King overtakes the God

And it finally arrived. The day that the King overtook the God and stood proudly on top of the cricketing pinnacle. Virat Kohli overtook the man he calls his idol in his presence, and at the place he calls home. It was an innings that we are all accustomed to seeing at this point. It had everything from his trademark cover drives, his wristy punches, and his short-arm punches for 6. Not to forget his trademark athleticism on full display with his running between the wickets. He built formidable partnerships with Shubman Gill and later with Shreyas Iyer and played his game to perfection as both the young guns around him played the aggressor to perfection.

On the day that the LittleMaster made his debut in world cricket and on the day that the very same man played his last-ever innings, it was only fitting that Virat Kohli reached his 50th ton to pay the perfect homage to the legend of the game.

Iyer makes the number 4 his own in IND vs NZ

In the furor of the superlative innings of Kohli and the magnificence of the Shami 7-for, it is very easy to forget the contributions of Shreyas Iyer. But with another superlative hundred today he has now well and truly taken that number 4 spot for his own, finally ending that search since Yuvraj Singh decided to hang his boots.

His innings today were a microcosm of everything that makes him such a dangerous presence when on song. He initially took his time and the moment he found his footing on a pitch he calls his home, he was nigh on unstoppable. He effortlessly tonked sixes at will and time and again tormented each and every Kiwi bowler with shots all around the ground. He is the only non-top-order batsman to have 500+ runs in a World Cup, and that in itself is a testimony to the burgeoning reputation in the story of Shreyas Iyer.

Mitchell and Williamson stand tall

Chasing 398 was always going to be a herculean task. But doing that after losing 2 of your best batters within the first 10 overs makes it an even more daunting task. Mitchell and Williamson joined forces together at a time when Shami and Bumrah were breathing fire and the ball was doing its thing under lights. But what followed was something that was completely out of pocket.

Both were incredibly lucky to survive that early onslaught, especially Williamson, who was 5 of 19 at one stage. But once the ball stopped doing what it did and the pitch became easier to bat on, both decided to take the attack to the Indian bowlers, While Williamson was all busy and found the odd boundary, Mitchell was pure belligerence and aggression as he found the sixes with ease.

A 50-run stand became 100 and then it reached 150, and for the first time, it felt like the Indian bowling attack was under pressure. The duo raised 181 runs for the 3rd wicket and were well in sight of a grandstand finish until Williamson departed playing one shot too many and Mitchell was limited by cramp.

Seventh heaven for Shami

If Bumrah does not get you, Siraj will. And if Siraj doesn’t get you, then Shami sure as hell will. And on a day when Bumrah and Siraj both had off days, it was the third head of this three-headed beast that took the spotlight, and deservedly so.

He came in and snuffed out Devon Conway on the very first ball of his spell, and then in his very next over accounted for the potentially dangerous Rachin Ravindra. He could have been a potential talking point for all the reasons after dropping a simple catch that he should have taken, but he then came back and accounted for a well-set Williamson and Tom Latham in the same over. And in his final salvo, he snuffed out the lone warrior Mitchell before accounting for the tail.

With this 7-wicket haul, he is now the first Indian to reach 50 WorldCup wickets, has the most 5-fors by an Indian bowler in World Cups, leads the wicket-taking charts at 23 dismissals, and also has the best figures by an Indian at World Cups. All in a day’s work for Mo Shami

Author Credits- Delwyn Serrao