Richard Illingworth (England), Rod Tucker (Australia), Joel Wilson (West Indies, TV)
Referee
Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe)
Weather
No chance of rain
Pitch Report
High scoring pitch with help for pacers under the lights. Avg. 1st Innings (In this WC): 357; Team Batting 1st have won 3 out of 4 games; Top Players: V Kohli (Mat: 11, Runs: 357, Avg: 59.50, SR: 90.15), M Shami (Mat: 3, Wkts: 8, Avg: 11.62, BB: 5/18)
Toss
India elected to bat
Pitch Report
PitchFlat Track Pitch
Pace BowlingPace & Bounce
Batting ConditionAverage
Spin BowlingSlow Spin
VENUE STATS
1st Innings
264Avg Runs
8Avg Wkts
Avg
SR
2nd Innings
207Avg Runs
7Avg Wkts
Avg
SR
Weather Update
Weather Update
Mumbai,India
Updated: 22 Nov 17:13
29°CSmoke
smoke
0%
Clouds
0%
Rain %
54%
Humidity
0 kmph
Wind
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High scoring pitch with help for pacers under the lights. Avg. 1st Innings (In this WC): 357; Team Batting 1st have won 3 out of 4 games; Top Players: V Kohli (Mat: 11, Runs: 357, Avg: 59.50, SR: 90.15), M Shami (Mat: 3, Wkts: 8, Avg: 11.62, BB: 5/18)
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Richard Illingworth (England), Rod Tucker (Australia), Joel Wilson (West Indies, TV)
Referee
Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe)
Weather
No chance of rain
Pitch Report
High scoring pitch with help for pacers under the lights. Avg. 1st Innings (In this WC): 357; Team Batting 1st have won 3 out of 4 games; Top Players: V Kohli (Mat: 11, Runs: 357, Avg: 59.50, SR: 90.15), M Shami (Mat: 3, Wkts: 8, Avg: 11.62, BB: 5/18)
The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
We conclude our coverage of the 1st semi final of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup with a visual worth watching a thousand times - Mohammed Shami claiming the most prized of his 7 wickets today - the one of New Zealand's valiant hero, Daryl Mitchell. Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and the rest of the country will gear up for a cricket match for the ages as India now await their opponents for cricket's ultimate clash. Our attention will now turn towards one of cricket's most iconic World Cup rivalries - Australia, South Africa, a semi-final... visuals of a particular run out and a thrashing at the Caribbean flash in front of your eyes, don't they? Well, we are in for the latest edition of this rivalry as both sides gear up for what promises to be a high-voltage clash at a venue renowned for hosting high-voltage clashes - the Eden Gardens! Join us right here on Sportskeeda tomorrow for our intricate coverage of the same, and of course, a whole lot more! This is Rajarshi, signing off on behalf of Shashwat for the evening. Good night - see you tomorrow!
It took India a span of 28 long years to lay their hands on the ODI Cricket World Cup trophy for a second time. With the prospect of a final taking place in front of a crowd in excess of a hundred thousand, one can't help but pit India as favourites to lift it again. To think the home advantage is the minutest of factors in favour for India seems staggering in itself, almost too surreal to be true - positives galore to take away from tonight! 10 wins on the trot, a resounding win against their biggest nemesis in World Cup cricket, all three departments backing each other up to the best effect... India, save some of those firecrackers for Sunday, there might just be something immensely historic on the way! New Zealand were never going to go down without a fight, though, they never, ever do. Daryl Mitchell, in particular, must leave the venue with his head held up high - he had the population of a billion in a bit of discomfort for a while! The rub of the green went their way on several occasions as well, and one can't help but wonder what the case might have been had Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul not teed off at the death in the first innings. They deservedly finished first on the points table, and now, India - 10 games unbeaten - make it to the ultimate game of cricket - the summit clash of a World Cup.
Rohit Sharma (India captain): I've played a lot of cricket here, any score on this ground is chasable. You cannot relax, you got to get the job done as quickly as possible. We knew there'd be pressure and partnerships, we just had to stay collected, and that's what we did. Even though we were a bit sloppy on the field, that can happen. These things are bound to happen, but I'm happy we got the job done in the end. (On what would have been had India posted a lesser total) Hard to say, because they wouldn't take those many risks. When the scoring rate is above 9 all the time, you got to keep taking chances. They gave us chances, we didn't take them. Credit to them as well, they batted brilliantly in the middle - Mitchell and Williamson. It was important to stay calm - the crowd went absolutely silent at one stage... that's the nature of the game, but we needed a moment of magic, either a good catch or a good ball. That's got to do with the form these guys are in - the top 5-6 batters have made it count upon given an opportunity. Very pleased with Iyer. Gill batted brilliantly upfront. Kohli was brilliant as usual, played his trademark innings and got to that landmark. All in all, we were superb with the bat, and that's the template we want to move with. England game - we got 230 on the board. When you have a target like that, you've got to take wickets upfront. There's always pressure when you play the game, the semi-final added to it. We tried to take the semi-final thing out of our minds and focus on doing what we've been doing in the first 9 games we played.
Kane Williamson (New Zealand captain): Firstly congratulations to India. They've played outstandingly well throughout the competition and perhaps played their best game today. They're a top side on top of their game. It was naturally going to be tough but credit to the guys, proud effort really to stand high at the halfway stage of the innings and give us some hope there. Tough game, disappointing to go out in the knockout stages but super proud of the efforts that have gone in the last seven weeks. The effort was there and like I said, India are a top-class side with some really world-class batters. They came out and played beautifully well, didn't give us a sniff. If you bat first and score 400+ it's a tick in the column. Credit to India, they thoroughly deserve to be where they are. It wasn't to be today but it was nice to be out there and give ourselves a bit of a chance. We needed a lot to go our way to chase a score like that. Fantastic crowd, an unbelievable atmosphere. Slightly one-sided in their support but great to be a part of the tournament which was hosted greatly by India. As a team, there's a real commitment to the cricket we want to play and we wholeheartedly do that. We've got Rachin and Daryl Mitchell who were special throughout this campaign on surfaces that did wary. Collectively the bowlers chipped in here and there. A lot of fight, really proud of that. We want to come into each game and show that. Ultimately it's about moving forward as a team and a step in the right direction.
Mohammed Shami, Player of the Match: I was waiting for my turn. I was not playing a lot of white-ball cricket. When I got a chance, it was against New Zealand. We talk a lot about variations but you always get wickets with the new ball when I bowl to my strengths by bowling full. (On the Williamson wicket) When I dropped the catch, I felt very bad, I should not have dropped it. I knew we had runs on the board. Tried to take some pace off and induce a false stroke in the air. I wanted to take that chance. (On the lack of dew) We were sweating over dew but it did not come today. Maybe it was because of the way the grass was cut. The ball was not holding in the surface and it was coming onto the bat. If dew had come, the runs might have flowed more. It might have taken the slower ball out of the equation. (On how it feels) It is amazing. To perform on such a big platform for your country, in the semi-final of the World Cup. In the last two World Cups, we lost in the semis and we were disappointed. We had a chance to fulfil our dream of getting to the final and just wanted to cash in.
Match summary:
India win by 70 runs and proceed to the final of the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup
Virat Kohli 117(113) | Mohammed Shami 7/57 (9.5) Daryl Mitchell 134(119) | Tim Southee 3/100 (10)
We have a really, really diverse cricket content team here at Sportskeeda. I've been told that the localities of every single one of ours - at Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Haridwar, most certainly here at Kolkata, and many other cities - have cranked the noise decibels up to alarming limits! People have hopped onto their bikes, cars, trucks, and will take a victory lap of their cities on behalf of the Indian team.
Needless to say, the firecrackers - lots of them - have been going off.... absolutely everywhere. After India's game against South Africa, we mentioned that people in India will be saving most of the firecrackers bought for the occasion of Diwali for exactly this... and possibly for Sunday. The Indian Men's cricket team certainly did not let the people of the country down, and now...well. A fourth World Cup final awaits them - possibly the biggest game in the career of so many of these men - not least for the skipper himself.
Make no mistake, there were moments of scare - plenty of them - over the course of the run-chase. The Blackcaps and Kane Williamson have been a major roadblock for India across ICC tournaments - and in spite of the highest total in an ICC Men's 50-over World Cup knockout game on the board, there was concern among the Indians - both players and spectators - for a long, long period of time. Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell were onto something really, really special with a partnership in excess of 150, but... Mohammed Shami - in his 100th One Day International - delivered for his country, and how!
In fact, it was Shami who opened the floodgates for India. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj didn't get off to the best possible start with the ball - spraying it all over the place in search of movement off the air and pitch - and Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra got things going for the Blackcaps. There were several runs added to sundries as well as KL Rahul had a hard time diving around behind the stumps.
Shami, with his enticing line on the channel outside off stump, did for both the left-handed openers with the help of some really tidy work from Rahul. Williamson and Mitchell then set on in the rescue act - Mitchell was determined to take the fight to the Indian bowlers. He was least bothered about the big names; Mitchell played the ball on its merit, punished it when it was meant to be punished, and the game drifted towards a rather intriguing passage.
India were far too sloppy on the field as per their standards - the prospect of winning that fielding medal might just have got to some of their heads! Catches were dropped, there was sloppy ground fielding on show, and the mistakes mostly came along from the fast bowlers. Shami was guilty of dropping a sitter of Williamson, depriving Bumrah of a prized wicket, but the UP-born, Bengal-bred pacer returned and delivered himself.
In the span of three deliveries, Shami had Williamson hole out to deep mid-wicket, and pinned Tom Latham in front. Mitchell was beginning to run out of support as Glenn Phillips came in and struggled, but the 41st over from Siraj helped him in settling in as he took 16 off the 20 in the over. Jasprit Bumrah then did the job the entirety of India knows him for - deliver with the ball under immense pressure at the death - he claimed Phillips with a well-disguised off-cutter.
The wicket of Phillips took all the wind out of New Zealand's sails. Mitchell tried to keep the fight going, but it was just not meant to be. Shami returned, mopped things up, and with 7 deliveries remaining in the innings, India were in the final. In a day and age where batters rule the roost in the format and take the headlines away, Mohammed Shami Ahmed will be having the hearts and souls of 1.3 billion Indians.
Mohammed Shami ends the game with the best bowling figures by an Indian in Men's World Cup Cricket! We have our first finalist - the hosts make it 10 out of 10 in the World Cup, and now, the people of India are in for their most electrifying cricketing contest since 2011, probably! INDIA ARE IN THE FINAL OF THE 2023 ICC MEN'S CRICKET WORLD CUP!!!
48.5 Mohammed Shami to Lockie Ferguson, SHAMI PICKS UP SEVEN AND INDIA ARE INTO THE WORLD CUP FINAL! Length, in the channel, and it is too good for Ferguson. Zips off the surface, perhaps might have nipped away too and the ball kisses the outside edge before lodging into the keeper's gloves. India have destroyed New Zealand, and despite the briefest of scares in the middle, have done what many expected them to do - get to the final!
Lockie Ferguson c KL Rahul b Mohammed Shami 6 (3b, 0x4, 1x6)
Well! New Zealand's number 11 has a swing against India's best bowler of the day, and gets full reward for it!