New Zealand and England produced yet another thrilling World Cup encounter as Kane Williamson's team defeated Eoin Morgan & co. by five wickets in the first semi-final to enter their maiden ICC Men's T20 World Cup final.
In a re-match of the unforgettable 2019 Cricket World Cup final, which was tied and went into the Super Over with England eventually winning on boundary count, Williamson won the toss and chose to bowl first as has been the trend in the tournament.
England scored 166/4 with Moeen Ali making 51* and Dawid Malan contributing 41. It seemed like an above-par score at the time and began to look like a match-winning one with Martin Guptill (4) and Kane Williamson (5) falling cheaply.
But New Zealand never give up early as is well known, as opener Daryl Mitchell (72*) and Devon Conway (46) brought the chase back on track before Jimmy Neesham smashed 27 in 11 balls to put England on the backfoot.
Mitchell completed the formalities as New Zealand won the semi-final with an over to spare despite needing 57 runs in the last 4 overs at one time. It was a sweet revenge for New Zealand who were on the wrong side of the epic final at Lord's in 2019.
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There was also a moment that reminded fans of the famous 'Trent Boult moment' from 2019 World Cup final when he stepped on the ropes while completing a catch of Ben Stokes who played a key role in England winning the game. This time, Jonny Bairstow was the one to suffer.
Neesham smashed a delivery bowled by Chris Jordan in the 17th over towards Bairstow at long-on who spectacularly held the catch before relaying it Liam Livingstone but unfortunately for him, his knee touched the boundary hoarding before he could release the ball.
Neesham was awarded six runs and New Zealand took 23 runs off the over to shift the momentum towards them before sealing the game on the final ball of the 19th over.
Watch here:
Watch both the incidents here:
Even batting great Sachin Tendulkar saw the similarities as he mentioned in his tweet.
New Zealand will play one of Pakistan or Australia in the final on Sunday (November 14).
