Ruthless hosts hand Black Caps first loss

By Kris Shannon

The Black Caps’ unbeaten run is over — and they’re now under no illusions about how hard it will be to win this Cricket World Cup.

India this morning eased to a four-wicket win in a top-of-the-table showdown in Dharamsala, confirming their favouritism while showcasing the gap between the best and the rest.

New Zealand had hoped to challenge for the former designation, having won their first four matches in some style. But the hosts had impressed even more in dispatching a number of fellow contenders, before expertly adding the Black Caps to that list.

Defeat may prove a minor setback on their march to the semifinals, though upcoming matches against Australia and South Africa threaten a major headache. But regardless of what happens in the next couple of weeks, India will surely be waiting and confident of seeing off any challenger.

They did today despite Daryl Mitchell scoring a superb century to help his side post 273, a total restricted by India’s dominant start and deadly finish with the ball.

Mitchell (130 off 127) followed Glenn Turner as the second New Zealander to notch three figures against India at an ODI World Cup, sharing with Rachin Ravindra (75 off 87) in a 159-run stand.

But the rest of the Black Caps batters were unable to contribute and the seam-bowling attack — a strength at the tournament to date — was soon rendered equally ineffective.

While India’s pacemen had posed the toughest test, with a recalled Mohammed Shami snaring 5-45, New Zealand’s trio struggled to stop the flow of runs. Rohit Sharma (46 off 40) set a trademark tone and Virat Kohli (95 off 104) excelled as typical in a chase, their clean hitting helping to overhaul the target with 12 balls to spare.

Given that pair top the World Cup run-scoring charts, the Black Caps must have felt they were a few short. Both captains had wanted to field and, as tight bowling in tricky conditions left the score on 34-2 after 10 overs, it was an understandable impulse.

Devon Conway first fell for a nine-ball duck, flicking off his pads with the ball moving around, before Will Young edged onto his own stumps from Shami’s first delivery of the tournament.

That left Mitchell to join Ravindra, who overcame a couple of scares when reviewing an apparent lbw dismissal and being dropped on 12. The 23-year-old quickly grew in confidence and unleashed some textbook shots all around the ground, kickstarting what would be an impressive recovery.

With the spinners not turning, both Ravindra and Mitchell came down the track to smack Kuldeep Yadav for six in the same over. Mitchell clearly enjoyed the experience, replicating that shot down the ground on three occasions as scoring accelerated through the middle overs.

Ravindra then brought up his third ODI half-century from 56 balls before mounting his second successful review as the Black Caps advanced to 147-2 after 30 overs.

They appeared poised for 300, particularly after Mitchell was dropped on 59 and 69. But when Shami removed Ravindra to break the partnership, and when Tom Latham lasted only seven balls, the Black Caps unravelled at the wrong time.

Glenn Phillips’ dismissal in the 45th over sparked a collapse of 6-30 to close the innings, with Mitchell providing the only highlight while celebrating his fifth ODI ton from 100 balls.

India found the early batting conditions much more to their liking, as Rohit clubbed 11 from Matt Henry’s opening over before putting Trent Boult on — and over — the ropes. The hosts raced to 50 inside eight overs with both Rohit and Shubman Gill timing it beautifully, plundering 44 of their first 52 runs in boundaries

Leading wicket-taker Mitchell Santner was introduced and induced an edge from Rohit that Latham spilled, before Lockie Ferguson found more luck and removed the opener with his opening ball.

The speedster soon added Gill but the runs kept coming, delayed only by a thick fog that descended and forced off the players for 10 minutes. That coincided with a greater number of misfields than New Zealand would expect or accept, giving India extra runs they didn’t need.

Not with Kohli at the crease, forming a few handy partnerships and surviving the loss of a couple of partners without the pressure ever really rising, departing with only five more needed.

Victory was India’s second in 10 clashes between the sides at ICC tournaments since 1992. If they meet again next month, it will be difficult to prevent the home side from making it three.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission