In a dominant performance in Wankhede, India clinched a 70-run victory over New Zealand in the 1st Semi-final, powered by a brilliant bowling performance from Mohammed Shami with the most wickets and a very good spell from Kuldeep Yadav. Before the bowlers took charge, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill played significant roles, helping India to set a mammoth total of 397.
Speaking about how the match panned out, Team India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. The Hitman and Shubman Gill were smashing boundaries at the start of the powerplay, eventually building a partnership of 71 runs in 8.2 overs. The Kiwis gave the first breakthrough by dismissing Rohit on 47 runs in 29 balls with 4 fours and 4 big sixes. After that, the King Kohli show started again, and he scored his 50th ODI century in the big match, contributing 117 runs in 113 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes.
On the other side, Gill first retired hurt on 79 runs, then later on came back to score an unbeaten 80 runs with 8 fours and 3 sixes, respectively. Following that, the power-hitting show was presented by Shreyas Iyer, who scored back-to-back centuries, amassing 105 runs in 70 balls with 4 fours and 8 big sixes. In the last, Rahul played a cameo of 39 runs in 20 balls, helping the Men in Blue reach a big total of 397 runs in 50 overs. In bowling, there was only one-man army, Mohammed Shami, who dismantled the Kiwi team, taking 7 wickets, the most by an Indian bowler in an inning. Kuldeep, Siraj, and Bumrah also picked up 1-1 wicket each.
On the other side, in bowling, the Kiwis were very poor as they conceded 397 runs in 50 overs. Tim Southee took 3 wickets but gave away 100 runs in his 10-over quota. Trent Boult too just picked up one wicket. When it came to their batting, the Kiwis lost both the openers very early with just 39 runs on the board. After that, Williamson and Daryl Mitchell steadied the ship with a solid partnership of 181 runs. However, Mohammed Shami broke the partnership and dismissed Williamson on 69 runs. Post that, wickets fell at regular intervals for the Black Caps and they could recover again. Glenn Phillips played a small power-hitting innings, scoring 41 runs but got dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah. Daryl Mitchell played a very crucial innings, scoring back-to-back centuries against India, but their efforts did not help the Kiwis win the match. He scored his best individual score of 134 runs in 119 balls with 9 fours and 7 big sixes.
For his outstanding seven-wicket haul, Mohammed Shami won the Player of the Match award. With this win, the Men in Blue are in the finals for the fourth time and have ended the curse of the semi-finals as well. Men in Blue reached the final after 12 long years.
Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 1st Semi-Final Match of the ODI World Cup 2023 between India and New Zealand:
51– Rohit Sharma hit the most sixes in ODI World Cups surpassing Chris Gayle(49) and also completed 50 sixes in ODI World Cups.
28- Rohit Sharma hit the most sixes in a single World Cup edition surpassing Chris Gayle(26).
466– Shubman Gill scored 466 runs in 5 innings with an average of 155.33 in 2023.
217– Virat Kohli scored joint second most 50+ scores in International Cricket with Ricky Ponting(217). The legendary Sachin Tendulkar still sits at the helm of the record (264).
8- Virat Kohli scored the most 50+ scores in a World Cup edition.
16– Virat Kohli scored the second most 50+ scores in ODI World Cups. The most by Sachin Tendulkar (21).
711– Virat Kohli scored the most runs in a single ODI World Cup edition surpassing Sachin Tendulkar (673).
4– Shreyas Iyer scored joint second most consecutive 50+ scores in World Cups with two times Sachin Tendulkar in 1996 & 2003 and Navjot Singh Sidhu in 1987. The most five times by Virat Kohli in 2019.
50– Virat Kohli scored the most centuries in 50-over formats in 279 innings surpassing Sachin Tendulkar (49).
5– Virat Kohli scored joint third most centuries in the ODI World Cup with Ponting (5) and Sangakkara (5). The most by:-
7-Rohit Sharma
6-Sachin Tendulkar
6-David Warner
23– Virat Kohli registered the second most ODI centuries while batting first surpassing Ponting (22). The record for most tons is held by none other than Sachin Tendulkar (32).
3– Virat Kohli(13794) registered third most runs in ODI surpassed Ponting(13704). The other two top most run getters are:
18’426 -Sachin Tendulkar
14’234 -Kumar Sangakkara
5– Virat Kohli registered the third most centuries in the ODI World Cup for India. The first and second are Rohit (7) and Sachin(6).
117- Virat Kohli scored the highest individual score in the ODI World Cup semi-finals for India. The other two are:
111* -Sourav Ganguly vs Kenya in Durban in 2003
85 -Sachin Tendulkar vs Pakistan in Mohali in 2011
397/4– Team India scored the highest totals in ODI World Cup knockouts.
397/4– Team India registered their third-highest totals in the ODI World Cup. The two highest are:
413/5 vs BER, Port of Spain, 2007
410/4 vs NED, Bengaluru, 2023
67– Shreyas Iyer registered third fastest hundreds for India by balls in ODI World Cup. The top two are:
62 – KL Rahul vs NED, Bengaluru, 2023
63 – Rohit Sharma vs AFG, Delhi, 2023
8- Shreyas Iyer hit the most sixes in an innings in the World Cup for India.
3– Team India scored the joint most 50+ scored in a team innings in a World Cup knockout. The others are:
3 – AUS vs IND, Johannesburg, 2003 Final
3 – IND vs AUS, Ahmedabad, 2011 QF
3 – NZ vs SA, Auckland, 2015 SF
163– Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer registered the highest runs partnership in the ODI World Cup for India.
525- Shreyas registered the most runs from No.4 or below in a World Cup edition.
19– Team India hit the most sixes in a World Cup knockout team innings.
19– Team India hit the most sixes in a World Cup team innings for India.
3- Team India registered the most 500+ runs scored by a player in a single World Cup edition.
85– Daryl Mitchell registered fourth fastest hundreds for New Zealand by balls in the ODI World Cup. The top three are:
77 – Rachin Ravindra vs Australia in 2023
82 – Rachin Ravindra vs England in 2023
83 – Devon Conway vs England in 2023
25.83– Tom Latham scored 155 runs in 8 innings with an average of 25.83, as he continued his poor form.
181– Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson registered third highest runs partnership for the third wicket in the ODI World Cup for New Zealand. The other two are:
206– Ross Taylor & Kane Williamson vs Eng in 2015
183– Tom Latham & Daryl Mitchell vs Pak in 2023
181– Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson registered fourth highest runs partnership in an ODI against India for New Zealand. The other three are:
221* – Kane Williamson and Tom Latham, Auckland, 2022
200 – Ross Taylor and Tom Latham, Mumbai WS, 2017
190 – Scott Styris and Ross Taylor, Dambulla, 2010
17– Mohammed Shami registered the fastest 50 wickets in ODI World Cup by innings.
795– Mohammed Shami took 50 wickets in the ODI World Cup in the fewest deliveries.
2– Daryl Mitchell scored joint-most two hundreds against the same team in a single World Cup edition with Sourav Ganguly against Kenya in 2003.
134- Daryl Mitchell registered his highest score in ODIs.
22– Daryl Mitchell hit the most sixes in a World Cup edition for New Zealand.
57/7– Mohammed Shami registered the best bowling figures for India in ODIs as well as the World Cup.
4- Mohammed Shami took the most five-fors in the ODI World Cup. The second bowler behind him is Mitchell Starc (3).
1- Mohammed Shami also became the first bowler to bag three five-fors in a single World Cup edition.
2- Mohammed Shami picked up joint most five-fors against the same team in a single World Cup edition with Mitchell Starc who took two times against New Zealand.
578- Rachin Ravindra scored joint-most runs in a World Cup edition for New Zealand with Kane Williamson (578).
724- This match had the highest Aggregate in the ODI World Cup knockout game.
4- India qualify for the ODI World Cup Final for the fourth time.