At last, Team India crossed the obstacle which was becoming a problem for them. The Indian team, which had lost in the semi-finals of the last two World Cups, overcame this hurdle after a wait of 12 years and made it to the finals. Team India entered the title match of World Cup 2023 by defeating New Zealand by 70 runs on Wednesday 15 November at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. There were many stars in this victory of Team India but 18 balls i.e. 3 overs proved to be important in changing the course of the match.
In this match held at Wankhede, Team India batted first and scored a tremendous score of 397 runs. It already seemed impossible to chase such a big score. Then fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who was proving to be the star of this tournament, dismissed both the openers in the sixth and eighth overs of New Zealand’s innings. After the fall of 2 wickets for just 39 runs, it seemed that the Kiwi team would also be eliminated soon but it did not happen.
When Shami, who made a mistake, applied the brakes
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell created an excellent partnership and gave some tension to Team India. Both of them made India yearn for wickets for about 25 overs. At one time it seemed that both of them together might surprise Team India. This seemed to be happening when Mohammed Shami dropped an easy catch of Williamson. There was about to be a partnership of 200 runs between the two, when the first of the 3 overs that brought Team India’s comeback came.
This was the 33rd over of the innings and Williamson was on strike on the second ball. Williamson flicked Mohammed Shami’s second ball towards fine leg. The ball rose high in the air and it seemed that it would go for 6 runs but it did not happen. Suryakumar Yadav took the catch at the boundary. In this way the tremendous partnership of 181 runs ended. Then Shami put real pressure on the Kiwi team. On the fourth ball of the same over, he gave out LBW to the new batsman Tom Latham.
Don’t forget Kuldeep’s 2 overs.
However, Daryl Mitchell was still firm and had completed his brilliant century. He formed a strong partnership with Glenn Phillips. In the 41st over of the innings, Mitchell and Phillips together increased the tension by scoring 20 runs on Mohammad Siraj. Then at such a time Kuldeep Yadav came and this spinner turned the match in his 2 overs. Kuldeep tied both of them in the 42nd over in such a way that only 2 runs could be scored.
Its effect was visible in the next over, when Phillips became the victim of Jasprit Bumrah while trying to play a big shot. Bumrah’s over was also good because the wicket of Phillips came but its real star was Kuldeep. He did not stop here. Kuldeep returned again in the 44th over, which was also the last over of his spell and this time Kuldeep returned the pavilion without giving explosive batsman Mark Chapman a chance to make an impact. In this way, Kuldeep gave only 6 runs in his 2 overs and took 1 wicket. After this Mohammed Shami finished the work.
