On 22nd October India beat New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup after 20 years and secured the first position in the points table. In the 21st match of the round-robin format Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first. Indian bowlers proved the decision right and restricted the Kiwis to 273 in 50 overs. In reply, India chased down the target in 48 overs and won the match by 4 wickets. Their most trusted guy Virat Kohli once again proved his worth in the run chase and helped the team get off the mark. 

In the high-altitude stadium when the Kiwi batters were asked to bat first, their openers were tested by the Indian bowlers. India’s most reliable Jaspriti Bumrah started the inning with a maiden, which put pressure on the opposition batters. After losing both the openers cheaply Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell scored a mammoth partnership of 159 and put New Zealand into a decent position. However, after the fall of Rachin, wickets fell at regular intervals and New Zealand only managed to get 273 and lost all his 10 wickets. Daryl Mitchell with 130 was their top scorer, Rachin also scored 75, for India Mo. Shami took 5 wickets for 54 runs on his World Cup return. 

In the second inning, the Indian batsman has a point to prove against the top-class swing bowlers Trent Bould and Matt Henry of New Zealand. Indian captain responded with a very positive approach and off to a very furious start, but an inside edge got Rohit Sharma out.  Just after his departure, his partner Shubhman Gill was also back in the pavilion followed by Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, both Iyer and Rahul went off to a great start but fell short to convert them into great innings.

However, from one end former Indian Captain and modern-day great Virat Kohli dominated the Kiwi bowlers, but in the 34th over his miscommunication with Surya Kumar Yadav led to the run out of Yadav. The wicket of Surya Kumar Yadav put India into a difficult situation although Kohli joined by Jadeja scored 78 runs together and helped India to be on the winning side. 

When India was just 5 runs short of winning, Virat was also 5 runs away from his 49th century, everyone on the ground wanted him to complete this century, but in the 48 Over he was knocked down by Matt Henry. If Virat completed this century, then he equals the record for most one-day international centuries scored by the great Sachin Tendulkar. Mo Shami for his fifer awarded man of the match. 

Earlier, Hardik Pandya’s injury forced India to make some changes to their playing XI. Mohammed Shami played his first match at the World Cup and replaced Shardul Thakur, while Suryakumar Yadav, who was struck on the eve of the match, replaced Hardik Pandya.