India registered a convincing four-wicket win over New Zealand in Dharamsala on Sunday to maintain their winning streak in the ongoing World Cup. Rohit Sharma & Co. next take on England in Lucknow on October 29 and have a week off before resuming their campaign against the defending champions. The Men in Blue will not be undertaking any travel a day after the match, the usual drill in the World Cup so far, and have decided to stay back in Dharamsala for two days.
“The team will not travel today and will stay back in Dharamsala for two days. They will be resting before preparations for the next game in Lucknow begin,” a BCCI official aware of the team’s schedule tells CricketNext.
It has been a dominating World Cup campaign for India and they have outplayed opposition in each of their five matches. The bowlers, in particular, have been doing a very consistent job and have made life a tad easier for the batters by not giving them bigger targets to chase.
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India have chased successfully in all five of their matches and the highest was the 274-run target set by New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 22. There has been a lot of intent in India’s batting this edition and the show is led by Rohit Sharma at the top of the order. The captain has accumulated 311 runs in 5 innings and those have come at a very healthy strike rate of 133.48.
Leading the charts, however, is chase master Virat Kohli who now has four 50+ scores, including a hundred, in the World Cup already and fell just five short of what would been his 49th hundred in the format. The right-hander is leading the run-getters chart with 354 runs in 5 innings at an astonishing average of 118.
#WATCH | ICC World Cup | Indian Cricket Team leaves from Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium after defeating New Zealand.
India defeated New Zealand by 4 wickets in the match played at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala pic.twitter.com/Q0mIa7y1xi
— ANI (@ANI) October 22, 2023
In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah has been India’s go-to man as the seamer has continued to provide penetration and control across different phases of the game. He is being ably supported by the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya (for the first four games), and now the latest entrant into the XI Mohammed Shami.
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New Zealand was always considered a tough opponent and has enjoyed success against India in ICC tournaments over the years. The Men in Blue, after the heartbreak in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against the same opponents, finally got the better of them with a very all-round display.
The victory was more special because India was without the services of Hardik Pandya and had to bring in Suryakumar Yadav and Shami to beef up both the bowling and batting department in the absence of their premier all-rounder.
