What happened when India faced New Zealand in a World Cup semi-final last time?

New Zealand defeated team India by 18 runs in World Cup 2019 semi-final.

It was agony for India when they last played against New Zealand in a World Cup semi-final. It was a disappointing exit for team India after losing to the Kiwis in a close game played at Old Trafford in the World Cup 2019. Indian fans are still scared to watch Martin Guptill’s bullet arm throw in the penultimate over to run out MS Dhoni in match. Team India will be up against New Zealand once again in the World Cup 2023 semi-final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 15th November, Wednesday. 

India had a wonderful run in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 so far and ended up winning all 9 league round games and they will enter into the field against New Zealand on a winning note. They are currently the front-runners and look stronger on paper than the Kiwis, who had a bit of a shaky campaign in mid-tournament. New Zealand after winning first 4 games convincingly, lost the next 4 games including against India at HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala. India will be looking to replicate their Dharamshala performance in Mumbai as well. 

What happened in World Cup 2019 semi-final?

It was a cold day at Old Trafford when Indian captain Virat Kohli and Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson came for the toss. Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first. Kiwis had a troubled start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed opener Martin Guptill early in the first over. The Blackcaps’ most experienced men took their team out of crisis and scored half-centuries. Captain Kane Williamson (67) and Ross Taylor (74) played crucial knocks to provide Kiwis a decent platform. But a poor lower-order performance stopped them at 239 runs. 

The game went to reserve day as when the Kiwis were entering into the final overs of their innings, intense rain arrived. The game was not possible due to persistent heavy showers and Team India batted on the reserve day. It was a horrible start and no one among the Indian fans would like to remember. The scorecard gave a football scoreline impression as Trent Boult and Matt Henry brought India down to 5 for 3 dismissing KL Rahul (1), Rohit Sharma (1), and Virat Kohli (1) in the first 4 overs. After this, the Kiwis never allowed India to make a comeback. 

Chasing 240, Team India were brought down to 92-6 in the 31st over. Blackcaps’ pacers were magnificent on that day and they kept the pressure on until Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni made a solid effort to change the game but that was not enough. Ravindra Jadeja scored his half-century and scored 77 runs in 59 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes. MS Dhoni also played his final international innings and was run out after scoring 50 runs in 72 balls. New Zealand won the game by 18 runs and went on to play their second consecutive World Cup final.

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