Varun Chakravarthy starred with 5 wickets for 42 runs as India defeated New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday and topped the Group A table to set up a semifinal date with Australia on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Group B table toppers South Africa will now face New Zealand in the second semifinal in Lahore on Wednesday.
Kane Williamson scored a fighting 81 but he was sent back by Axar Patel who along with Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja took 1 wicket apiece. India will be wary of their semifinal opponents who even with a depleted squad pose a threat. The last time these two sides met in an ICC 50-over tournament, Australia had walked out as the ODI World Cup 2023 champions in Ahmedabad.
Earlier, Shreyas Iyer produced a composed fifty under pressure but New Zealand, led by pacer Mark Henry, managed to stifle India to an under-par 249 for nine.
Iyer (79 off 98 balls) shared a well-paced 98 runs alliance with Axar Patel (42 off 61 balls) for the fourth wicket and Hardik Pandya (45 off 45) played a quick-fire innings towards the end to help India survive a top-order meltdown.
Henry (5/42) was the most successful bowler for New Zealand, who also made an impact with their terrific fielding.
It was a slightly different situation for Iyer as in the last few matches, the top three batters had given him the cushion of runs.
It had enabled him to bat with some degree of freedom in those matches. But here he had to build the innings from the scratch and he did that job with perfection while making fifty off 75 balls with a single off Rachin Ravindra.
The natural flair was on show on occasions as Iyer once lofted pacer Will O’Rourke for a six over long one and Axar gave him excellent company on a rather slow pitch.
But Axar departed against the flow of the game when his attempt to scoop Ravindra over short fine leg ended in the hands of Kane Williamson.
A century was there for the taking for Iyer but a feeble pull off O’Rourke was gobbled by up Young inside the covers.
(With agency inputs)
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