India beat New Zealand for first time in ICC events since 2003 after tense chase in Dharamsala

India continued their dominant march towards the semi-finals of the 2023 ICC World Cup with a four-wicket victory over New Zealand in Dharamsala on Sunday.

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In a battle between the two remaining unbeaten teams of the ongoing tournament, Virat Kohli (95) and Mohammed Shami (5/54) shone with bat and ball respectively as the Men in Blue chased down the 274-run target set by the Black Caps at Dharamsala’s HPCA Stadium with two overs to spare.

The win gave India their fifth victory in as many outings, greatly boosting their chances of reaching the World Cup semi-finals for fourth consecutive time, and allowed them to regain the top spot on the points table from New Zealand.

The Kiwis, who had finished runners-up in the 2019 edition, suffered their first defeat of the tournament after four victories in a row, including a nine-wicket thrashing of defending champions England in the tournament opener in Ahmedabad.

Kohli aces another chase

Skipper Rohit Sharma and opening partner Shubman Gill got the Men in Blue off to a promising start in their chase of the 274-run target set by the Kiwis, adding 71 for the opening wicket. Rohit, however, would miss out on a half-century by a whisker for a second game running after chopping a slower delivery from Lockie Ferguson onto the middle stump to depart for 71.

Gill became Ferguson’s second victim in his very next over, uppercutting a short, wide delivery from the pacer to get caught by Daryl Mitchell at third man.

The in-form Kohli, however, managed to absorb the pressure and steady the ship for the Men in Blue just when the Black Caps were starting to mount a fightback with the two quick wickets.

Kohli, who had struck an unbeaten 103 against Bangladesh in Pune, got off the mark with a boundary off Ferguson but would display no hurry in collecting runs thereafter, allowing Indian No 4 Shreyas Iyer to play the aggressor and maintain a healthy scoring rate with a flurry of boundaries.

Former India captain Kohli would revive his team’s chances of chasing the successfully chasing the challenging target with successive fifty-plus partnerships with Iyer and KL Rahul respectively. Kohli was completely subdued during his 52-stand with Iyer, during which play had been called off temporarily due to fog at the HPCA Stadium, but began to gradually express himself and take centre-stage in the partnership with Rahul.

It began with a maximum off left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra in the 29th over followed by a boundary off Matt Henry in the very next over to signal a shift in momentum.

India suffered another scare in their chase when Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav, also making his first appearance of the tournament alongside Shami, were dismissed in successive overs to leave India five down.

SKY, who couldn’t force his way into India’s first-choice ODI XI despite a superb run in the three-match ODI series against Australia, was run-out after a mix-up while calling for a single; he was halfway down the pitch after tapping the ball towards the covers before being sent back by Kohli.

India