India 249 for 9 (Iyer 79, Axar 42, Henry 5-42) beat New Zealand 205 (Williamson 81, Varun 5-42) by 44 runs
India spun a web around New Zealand to defend 249 for their sixth straight win against what has been a bogey team for them in recent times. They added Varun Chakravarthy to the three spinners they already were playing, and he responded with a five-for at a venue where an indifferent showing against Pakistan in 2022 led to a major setback to his international career.
Finishing top of their group, India will now face Australia in the semi-final on Tuesday. New Zealand and South Africa are to fly back to Pakistan for their semi-final on Wednesday.
This was an old-fashioned ODI on which the new ball seamed and swung in the first innings followed by gradual slowing down and increasing grip. Absence of any significant dew meant batting kept getting more and more difficult. Shreyas Iyer scored his slowest fifty followed by Kane Williamson’s slowest score of 80 or above.
Wave after wave of attack from India’s spinners was held back by some luck and Williamson, but eventually they broke the bund starting with Ravindra Jadeja getting Tom Latham lbw on the reverse-sweep in the 33rd over. India bowled 29 overs of spin out of the 30 middle overs, and 37.3 in all for nine wickets and just 166 runs. This was an improvement after their spinners had gone at 0.7 an over more than the opposition spinners in the first two games. Turns out it was only a function of bowling first when the ball gripped less than in the second innings.
New Zealand restricted India largely through seam with Matt Henry taking five wickets and their spinners bowling 25 overs for 128 runs and just two wickets. Henry as usual was spot on with the ball seaming for him and swinging for Kyle Jamieson. In no time, New Zealand had India at 30 for 3 with Glenn Phillips adding Virat Kohli to his highlight reel of spectacular catches.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
