The rain gods had the final say on Tuesday in the India-New Zealand semi-final clash of the ongoing ICC World Cup. With India firmly in control, the umpires tried to restart the match once it was interrupted in the 47th over of New Zealand’s innings, but to no avail. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has provisions for reserve days for all knockout matches and the game will continue today at Old Trafford, Manchester.
Winning the toss, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson elected to bat, something that Indian captain Virat Kohli said he would have done as well. But the Indian bowlers never let the Kiwis get away. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar started with a maiden over each and Bumrah scalped his first victim in Martin Guptill, who struggled to 1 run off 14 balls.
Henry Nicholls and Williamson steadied things a little for the Kiwis before Nicholls was sent back to the hut by Ravindra Jadeja.
Skipper Williamson once again chipped in with a vital half century, eventually falling to Yuzvendra Chahal for 67.
New Zealand’s batting was painfully slow throughout their innings and they were being troubled by the Indian bowlers at regular intervals. None of the other batsmen, except Ross Taylor really got going, and when the rain came in the 47th over, the Kiwis had crawled to 211/5 with Taylor (67*) and Tom Latham (3*) at the crease.
The game is scheduled to continue today, however rain is once again forecast in Manchester. So here’s what you need to know about the match:
- The match will continue from where it left off yesterday i.e. New Zealand are at 211/5 with 23 balls remaining in their innings and will remain a 50-overs a side game.
- India will need to bat at least 20 overs for it to be counted as a complete match
- If there are rain delays, the match will be shortened and the Duckworth-Lewis calculations will come into play
- If the match is abandoned, India got through to the final by virtue of having finished higher in the league stage
