The first semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2019 saw India take on New Zealand at the Old Trafford ground in Manchester. There was a threat of rain looming over the match and it played a big part later on.

New Zealand landed the first blow when Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bat first. New Zealand brought in Lockie Ferguson for Tim Southee; while India brought Ravindra Jadeja in for Kuldeep Yadav and surprisingly decided to keep Mohammad Shami out.

The first two overs were maidens, as Kiwi openers Guptill and Nicholls negotiated swing and movement from Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah. The brilliant Bumrah then sent back Martin Guptill back to the pavilion for 1 continuing his horror World Cup campaign. Ravindra Jadeja probably bowled the ball of the match to dismiss Nicholls for 28. Then Kane Williamson (67) and Ross Taylor (67*) added 65 runs before Chahal sent back the Kiwi skipper.

Pandya dismissed Neesham for 12 and Bhuvneshwar sent de Grandhomme back for 16, leaving New Zealand 211/5 in 46.1 overs, when the umpires decided to go off the field due to persistent drizzle which turned into full-on rain.

The rains didn’t relent much as the officials decided to take the game to the reserve day when the game will take off from where it was interrupted.