Team India extended their winning streak to five in the ongoing World Cup as they defeated New Zealand by four wickets at HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala on Sunday (October 22).
Opting to bowl first, the Men in Blue restricted New Zealand to 273/10 in 50 overs on the back of Mohammad Shami’s five-wicket haul (5/54).
In reply, Rohit Sharma (46) and Shubman Gill (26) provided the team with a strong 71-run stand but it was Virat Kohli who stole the show with his match-winning knock.
The hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were struggling at 191/5 in the 34th over, but Kohli held the one end firmly and slammed 95 off 104 balls.
While Virat got out when the team needed 5 runs off 15 balls, Ravindra Jadeja stayed unbeaten on 39 to take India home with two overs to spare.
After the game, Pakistan pace legend Wasim Akram heaped praise on Rohit and his men for executing their plans to perfection.
"India is like that run-away train that has its brakes failed. They are going that way. They have the weapons, have the merit, the skills and most importantly they know how to execute their plans," said Akram on A Sports.
With all-rounder Hardik Pandya ruled out of the New Zealand game due to ankle injury, India had to tweak their playing XI but they still managed to get the better of the opposition.
"They did one change according to the situation. Squads should be such, like India and New Zealand's, so that if anybody is injured or out of touch or you want to play someone according to opposition or pitch (then you have such resources available). Like India played Shami, Hardik was injured, they dropped Shardul (Thakur), SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) was brought in as a new batter. Then Shami got a wicket off the first ball of his spell," Akram added.
The former Pakistan captain said India always looked under control during the chase despite the fall of wickets.
"Kya zabardast chase ki hai (what a phenomenal chase). No pressure. Wickets fell, but they looked smooth, looked in control. That's a great sign for the Indian team and Indian cricket," he remarked.
