New Zealand dent India’s 20-20 WC campaign with an 8 wicket win
New Zealand defeated India by 8 wickets to dent their hopes of a semifinal berth. The team dominated Virat Kohli’s men from the word go. The Indian batters were strangled by Kiwi bowlers as they could not break free. The spinners hardly gave anything away, while the pacers were top-notch as well. None of the Indian batters, barring a little cameo from Ravindra Jadeja could resist the Kiwi bowlers as India could only manage 110-7 in their 20 overs. Here’s latest cricket betting odds and markets online.
The score was nowhere near what India would have expected. India’s only chance to stay in the match was to pick early wickets. However, that was not the case to be. While Bumrah did dismiss Martin Guptill early, Daryl Mitchell scored a blazing 49 to end India’s hopes. Kane Williamson too played a calm knock of unbeaten 33.
With two losses in two games, India’s road to the semifinal looks very difficult. They will need to win all their remaining games by big margins and also expect some other results to go their way.
Here’s what the skippers said.
Virat Kohli | India captain: To be brutal upfront, I don’t think we were brave enough with bat/ball. We obviously didn’t have much to play with the ball. We were just not brave enough in our body language when we entered the field and NZ had better intensity, body language. Every time we took a chance, we lost a wicket. It’s most often a result of hesitation of whether you should go for a shot or not. When you play for India, there are loads of expectations. We are watched, people come to the stadium and everyone who plays for India needs to embrace that and cope with it. We haven’t done that in these two games, and that’s why we haven’t won. We have to be optimistic and positive and take calculated risks. We have to disconnect from the pressure and continue with our process, and play a positive brand of cricket. There’s a lot of cricket to play in the tournament.