New Zealand will be looking for convincing wins over Scotland and Namibia in their next two games, which could set up a qualification decider against Afghanistan in the final group game, depending on results elsewhere. Pakistan have already sealed qualification from Group 2, but the second semi-final spot is still very much up for grabs, with all five other teams in the group still mathematically involved. And against India Mitchell showed just how dangerous he can be, smashing all three of his side’s maximums to break the back of the chase. Tasked with getting the Kiwis off to a fast start alongside Martin Guptill at the top of the order, Mitchell tees off safe in the knowledge that there is batting strength-in-depth to recover if his risks fail to yield reward. Scotland will need Watt to produce again if they are to cut through New Zealand’s high-quality top-order.ĭaryl Mitchell, New Zealand: The shift to opener was an unexpected one for Mitchell, but the pinch-hitting batter has excelled in his new role. My family is here - that is enough (birthday) celebration for me.Mark Watt, Scotland: The spinner has been a revelation throughout the tournament, producing an extremely consistent and stingy economy rate, while also picking up wickets at key times. Jadeja bowled really well, also Shami was quite good. But we were just two overs of good batting.
Teams bowled well too, and created pressure on us. Just a couple of aberrations happened, where we just couldn't got those two successive good overs. If you look at our practice games, we have been actually batting like this only. We thought that if they play naturally, runs will come quickly. We spoke about the 8-10 over bracket before the start, didn't want to really go too hard because if you lose wickets, then an extra 20 balls could cost. The bowlers were excellent, and then KL and Rohit did really well. We wanted to get them under 110-120 max, that was the mindset we went in with. Also tells you how important the toss can be at this venue. Don't want to say a lot about today's performance, we know what we can do. Now it will be interesting to see what happens on 7th (November). Virat Kohli: A dominating performance, something that we were striving to do again. On that note, this is Hari Sadanandan signing off on behalf of MS Ramakrishnan, Sagar Chawla, Abhinand Raghavendran and Siva. Let's hope we get more competitive games tomorrow. Today's game was indeed the perfect Diwali gift for all Indians. If you're an Indian supporter, you should be proud that the team is still in there and fighting it out in style. But that's what luck is about, isn't it? These situations are too tricky to predict. Mind you, Afghanistan can also cause a stir if they win really big and India don't manage to do the same against Namibia.
Now about the luck part, let's see if they get lucky with NZ losing. Two monstrous wins and the net run-rate is almost not a factor anymore. They could still be knocked out if the Kiwis win their next game, but the manner in which they have bounced back is exemplary to say the least.
Not so long ago, this Indian team was the verge of a premature exit with two bad losses. And when that combines with the little luck that you need, sky is the limit.
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