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India continued to fly high in their home World Cup campaign, collecting a four-wicket win against New Zealand in Dharamsala on Sunday.

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Mohammed Shami made a successful comeback with a five-wicket haul in his first appearance in the ongoing tournament as Team India bowled New Zealand out for 273 after opting to bat. Virat Kohli then starred in yet another run chase as the Men in Blue got home with four wickets and two overs to spare.

The win allowed the Men in Blue to reclaim the top spot on the points table with their fifth victory in as many outings. Together with their solid Net Run Rate (NRR) of +1.353, the Men in Blue are on the verge of becoming the first team to be assured of a place in the semi-finals. They could confirm that as early as next Sunday when they face England in Lucknow with their sights set on a sixth consecutive win.

Looking back at the events of the India-New Zealand fixture at Dharamsala’s HPCA Stadium, we bring to you five standout moments from the match:

Shami makes a successful comeback

After warming the bench in the first four matches of the tournament, Mohammed Shami finally got the break that he had been waiting for, albeit through a forced change with all-rounder Hardik Pandya out due with ankle injury.

 

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Shami would strike off his very first delivery of the day, inducing an inside edge off Will Young’s bat, and nearly had nipped the Daryl Mitchell-Rachin Ravindra partnership in the bud with the latter getting dropped by Ravindra Jadeja at backward point. Shami, however, would play a role in triggering a batting collapse towards the end of the New Zealand, grabbing three wickets in quick succession to finish with 5/54 — his third ODI five-for.

Mitchell-Ravindra flay Indian attack

Ravindra was dropped by a fellow Ravindra at backward point on 12, and would make the Indian attack pay dearly for what was the first of three dropped catches on the day by adding another 63 runs to his score and stitching a massive 159-run third-wicket partnership with all-rounder Mitchell.

The duo were particularly severe on left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has been India’s standout bowler in ODIs this year, with four of the seven sixes collected in the Kiwi innings coming off his bowling. Mitchell would carry on till the very end after Shami broke the partnership by dismissing Ravindra and would bring up the three-figure mark for the fifth time in one-dayers. He would become Shami’s fifth wicket in the penultimate delivery of the innings.

Rohit’s fiery start

One of the primary reasons behind India’s successful chases in recent games has been their strong starts at the top of the order, the latest example of which was the 71-run stand from the in-form opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. New Zealand had been successful in triggering top-order collapses in recent meetings in ICC events with India.

Rohit and Gill however, decided to face the new-ball pair of Trent Boult and Matt Henry head on, and ended up collecting 63 runs in the powerplay without losing their wickets that gave the Men in Blue just the start they were looking for. Rohit, in particular, was looking majestic with his range of shots, including a few pulls off short deliveries, but missed out on a half-century by a whisker for a second game running.

Fog halts play

Rain does make an appearance in cricketing matches more often than not, and there are rules (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method) in place to deal with the same, both for deciding winners of rain-affected contests as well as for revising targets in run-chases. In Sunday’s fixture at the picturesque HPCA Stadium though, it was an evening fog of all things that held play up for a little over 10 minutes during India’s chase.

There have been instances of fog holding up play in Indian domestic matches, especially in the northern part of the country during winter fixtures, but it is a phenomenon as rare as play being held up due to sunlight in venues such as Napier.

Kohli aces another chase

Kohli’s in the form of his life at the moment, and his lean patch with the bat that lasted for nearly three years appears a distant memory now. After starring in the run chases against Australia and Bangladesh, Kohli once again rose to the occasion in the tricky chase of 274 with a superb 95 off 114 deliveries. The former India captain had faced the toughest assignment since rescuing India from 2/3 chasing 200 at Chepauk and took his time to steady the ship against a testing New Zealand attack that had begun to claw back with the quick dismissals of Rohit and Gill.

Kohli, though, dropped the anchor and forged important partnerships with Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to lift India back on its feet, before sealing the game with a 78-run stand with Jadeja for the sixth wicket. He didn’t get to hit the winning runs this time though — he ended up holing out to cow corner while trying to bring up his century, and it was up to Jadeja to hit the winning boundary.

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