KIWIS KANE-D: in Shami, Kohli, Iyer show

Mumbai: The magic of Mohammed Shami, his unerring seam bowling, extricated India from a tricky situation on a batsman’s paradise of a pitch at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.

The speedster captured 7/57 to significantly help India beat New Zealand by 70 runs and enter the final of the ICC ODI World Cup.

Daryl Mitchell’s heroic 134 went in vain. He ultimately flicked Shami uppishly to midwicket. Mitchell and skipper Kane Williamson put up 181 runs for the 3rd wicket, before Shami had the latter caught at square leg for 69. This made amends for him dropping the same batsman at mid-on off Jasprit Bumrah. Shami followed that by immediately trapping Tom Latham for a duck.

He had earlier removed openers Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra with deliveries that deviated away from the left-handers off the seam. It was skillful bowling on an unresponsive pitch.

After the fall of the fourth wicket, Glenn Phillips struck 41 off 33 balls until Bumrah, a bit below his best on this day, had him pouched at widish long-off.

Then, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who turned the odd ball a fair amount, got his reward when Mark Chapman slog swept him to deep square leg.

However, Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday seemed to bowl too quickly for a slow left-arm spinner.

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer further repaid the faith reposed on him by the team management. Selected to bat at No. 4 in the tourney, he has grown in stature with every innings in the competition.

On Wednesday, he blasted 105 off 70 balls, with eight sixes at a strike rate of 150, to star in a stellar showing by the Indian batters. On Indian wickets, Iyer has undoubtedly become a class act. By comparison, veteran Virat Kohli’s ton looked like a leisurely display.He disclosed during the interval that he had been assigned to be a sheet anchor by the team’s think-tank.

"I’ve been given a role in this tournament and I’m trying to dig deep," he remarked.

Yet, it was a history-making afternoon for Kohli, probably the greatest one-day international batsman of all time – and Sir Vivian Richards, the West Indian master-blaster of the '70s and '80s, was in the audience to witness it!

Kohli’s ton was his 50th, thus sailing past Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries. With the 80th run enroute his century, his tally of runs in the ongoing edition also surpassed Tendulkar’s aggregate of 673 in the 2003 World Cup. Tendulkar described him as a ‘Virat’ (massive) player on X.

Kohli and Iyer put on 163 runs. Between the fall of the 1st and 2nd wickets, 256 runs were realised – this included the talented Shubman Gill retiring hurt when he was batting on 79 from 66 balls, which included three sixes.

Gill was afflicted by cramps in the 35-degree centigrade afternoon temperature, coupled with seaside humidity. This vacated the stage for Iyer to produce his pulverising knock. Gill returned briefly to remain unbeaten with K.L. Rahul, who conjured a 20-ball 39.

The Indians finished on 397/4 from their allotted 50 overs, setting New Zealand a target of 398 to win.

No team had ever chased down that many in a World Cup match; and it wasn’t going to happen, regardless of the placidity of the pitch or the association between skipper Williamson and Mitchell. The Black Caps had, of course, almost chased down 390 against Australia in the league stage.

Brief scores:

India 397/4 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 117, Shreyas Iyer 105, Shubman Gill 80 not out; Rohit Sharma 47; KL Rahul 39 not out; Tim Southee 3-100) beat New Zealand 327 all out in 48.5 overs (Kane Williamson 69, Daryl Mitchell 134, Glenn Phillips 41; Mohammed Shami 7-57) by 70 runs.