First semi-final goes into Day 2 as rain calls off play
A near perfect effort by Indian bowlers was washed away by the Manchester rain on Tuesday with the first semi-final of the World Cup going into the reserve day on Wednesday, scheduled to start at 10.30 am. New Zealand were at 211 for the loss of five wickets with 23 balls remaining when play stopped to a constant drizzle.
The game will resume from where it was cut short by the rain with New Zealand being required to complete their remaining overs and India playing the entire 50 overs. The game will be shortened as per the rain today but a minimum of 20 overs will need to be played by India for a result.
If the rain does not allow that too, then India go into the Final on the basis of having more points on the table (15) than New Zealand.
Had the rain stopped in playtime on June 9, India would have had the stiff target of making 148 runs in 20 overs, or 165 in 25 overs or 234 in 46 overs as per the Duckworth Lewis system's calculation. Virat Kohli though looked worried through the glasses of his dressing room, wondering what the next day held for the team. Rain is, indeed, a disruption to mindset, momentum and circumstances which were in India's favour on the scheduled original match day.
Rain is expected on Wednesday too. According to BBC Weather, there is a rain possibility between 15 per cent and 19 per cent from 3 pm on Wednesday till 7 pm. The Accuweather chart for July 10 predicts mainly cloudy; a little morning rain, then a shower in spots.
Ticket holders for this match would be able to use their original tickets for the reserve day.
It was an unusual sight that met the officials on July 9 with some of the stadium showing up bald patches. This was due to the unexpected change in venue after Australia lost to South Africa and India were catapulted to the top of the table. This meant a change in venue from Birmingham to Manchester for their semi final clash which was expected to be with England earlier and not New Zealand on the basis of table standings.
The rain disruption which came around 2 pm, meanwhile, washed away the brilliant show put up by both the Indian pacers and spinners giving India a winning chance at the Old Trafford after Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat under cloudy conditions and threat of rain.
It was a brave decision to do so, considering the elements, India's ability to chase and the strength of the Indian bowlers, especially spinners who the Kiwis are naturally guarded about. The bowlers lived up to their skipper's expectation by restricting the total to 211 in 46.1 overs, even as the New Zealanders struggled to somehow break the cordon.
India lost the review on the very first ball of the innings when Nicholls survived a scare. The cloud cover made the conditions trickier than usual and the first-ball review which strayed just inches outside the leg stump as Bhuvneshwar Kumar was up in the air appealing.
The review didn't go India's way, but all else did, like two maidens at the onset making the Kiwi batsmen look doubtful and in a bit of a panic. Martin Guptill scored the first run after two maidens and three balls but that was his lone run in the semi-final. Jasprit Bumrah took him out on a typical full-length Test match ball caught at second slip by a sharp Virat Kohli in a classic dismissal and the otherwise roaring scorer walked back for just 1 run in 14 balls to show his disgust by throwing his bat in the dressing room even as India capitalised with the ball doing things and the panic that the Black Caps were getting in the grip of. Bumrah followed it up with a beauty but warhorse Kane Williamson left it beautifully, hoping the score would move on from a dismal 1 for 1.
The first boundary came off Bumrah when Nicholls bringing the score to 18. Jadeja was navigated by ease with one boundary and seven runs in his first over. The calming effect of Williamson brought in the New Zealand to 50 in the 14th over with the skipper looking for a cemented partnership and an eventual century perhaps.
Just as the Kiwis were ambling along, Jadeja surprised all to bowl Nicholls by, well, not turning, not twisting not anything actually as a straight ball went through the bat and pad to unsettle the stumps. It was quite an innocuous one from Jadeja but Nicholls was sent back at 28 from 51 balls and New Zealand were 69/2 in the 19th over, bringing in danger man Ross Taylor.
First boundary after the 14th over came in the 28th when Williamson between mid and deep cover and hit the second one of the over on Chahal's last ball, bluffing Rohit Sharma on first slip despite being up and rising before running away to the boundary. It was an uphill battle with the bat for the Black Caps who kept much too quiet till into the death overs.
The New Zealand 100 came in the 27th over and the run rate was just above three with the Williamson-Taylor pair looking to accelerate. Williamson got his 50 just then, fifth of the tournament. It took him a slow build-up, patience and a tailoring job of 74 balls and four boundaries. In celebration, he scooped the ball to the boundary over the head of Dhoni when Pandya, despite a groin stretch he had picked up earlier in the innings, bowling in. He also brought in the 50-run partnership in 73 balls overall.
This brought back Jasprit Bumrah into his second spell in the 32nd over. It was an eventful over with Dhoni putting down a catch that would have sent Taylor back as the ball somewhat died on him as he went down for a pick.
Williamson, however, lost concentration at 67 in 95 balls and was snapped up by Jadeja off Chahal in the 36th over when the Kiwis were at a slow and low 134. The match, from the Kiwi side, was looking for big shots with the Indian arm doing the job to keep it down for an easy chase in the second innings.
The runs weren't coming but rain did, posing difficult queries over the scoring rate of the Black Caps. A fifth gear was the need of the hour but the Indian bowlers refused to relent. Finally, Neesham gave way after trying to up the ante unsuccessfully and hit high into the skies only give enough time to Dinesh Karthik to get underneath it at on the leg. At 162/4 in the 42nd over, India were looking at a doable total.
The first six of the game came off Taylor's bat and Chahal was grimacing at the force of it, that's when the drizzle started making its way to the ground but Taylor did not let off, hitting two more boundaries in Chahal's last over, bringing in his 50 with the six.
Rain stopped play when New Zealand were 211/5.