New Zealand produced a brilliant fightback while chasing a huge total against India in the World Cup 2023 semifinal on Wednesday, November. After losing two early wickets, the Kiwi batters Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell pulled off a sensational stand for the third wickets to keep the balance at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
Earlier in the game, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer's brilliant hundreds helped India score 397 runs while batting first. This emerged as the biggest total in World Cup knockout matches and that produced a big pressure on New Zealand to provide a big start.
New Zealand lost both openers Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra in the first eight overs with just 39 runs on the scoreboard. In-form Daryl and star batter Williamson put the fight on with a sensational 181-run stand for the third wicket with the former scoring his second hundred in this tournament.
Mitchell took only 85 balls to bring a memorable hundred with the help of eight fours and five sixes. Mitchell smashed the longest six of the tournament with a 107-metre strike off Ravindra Jadeja. Mitchell also broke Brendon McCullum's record for most sixes for New Zealand in the World Cup edition to script history.
The 32-year-old batting all-rounder has now recorded 20 sixes in the ongoing tournament and broke McCullum's record of 17 sixes which came during the 2015 edition.
Most sixes for New Zealand in a World Cup edition:
- 18* - Daryl Mitchell, 2023
- 17 - Brendon McCullum, 2015
- 17 - Rachin Ravindra, 2023
- 16 - Martin Guptill, 2015
- 14 - Ross Taylor, 2011
New Zealand Playing XI: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Mark Chapman, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
