Twitter Reactions: India's wait for ICC trophy continues as New Zealand bag grand win in WTC Final

New Zealand won their first ICC event since 2000 when they had defeated India in the Champions Trophy final.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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5 Min Read

Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor celebrating
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Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor celebrating. (Photo Source: Disney + Hoststar VIP)

They lost the final of the World Cup 2015. Well, the boundary count rule literally stole the World Cup trophy from four years later at Lord’s. New Zealand then arrived at Southampton 23 months later with a hope of winning yet another ICC trophy and this time, rain put them in a jiffy and thanks to reserve day, were offered 98 overs to force a result.

And boy didn’t they turn up on the final day? Their bowlers were just brilliant throughout the game and on the sixth day, the quartet of Kyle Jamieson, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult and Tim Southee was just relentless. There was no breathing space for Indian batsmen at all to bowl them out for just 170. And it was so fitting for the Kiwis that two of their best batsmen Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor finished the game together.

Well for India, it was another missed opportunity to win the ICC title. Having said that, they didn’t make it easy at all for New Zealand and fought right till the end. It was worthy of a final and yes, after 144 years of Test cricket, we have New Zealand as the inaugural Champions of the format!

How the action unfurled?

The day began with India only 32 runs ahead and with sun shining in its full glory, many reckoned batting will be easy. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara were in the middle for India. However, New Zealand’s relentless pace attack had other ideas. Kyle Jamieson literally gave nothing away and within the first 45 minutes, both the overnight batsmen were back to the pavilion.

Both Kohli and Pujara poked at the away going deliveries but were set up nicely by Jamieson. Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane then steadied things a bit with the former playing some weird strokes but managing to hang in the middle. He was also dropped in the slips by Southee when at five. Just when things looked settled, Rahane was strangled down the leg-side courtesy Trent Boult.

Pant and Ravindra Jadeja then fought with New Zealand bowlers relentless coming at them. The duo added 33 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter fell to the guile and accuracy of Neil Wagner. The left-arm seamer kept on bowling short deliveries at his body and kept him on the backfoot before landing one in the channel to take the outside edge of his bat.

Once that partnership was broken, runs never came easily even with Pant in the middle. Kane Williamson cleverly kept fielders in the deep whenever the southpaw came on strike and didn’t allow him to tee off at any stage. Frustration got to Pant as he skied one in the air only for Henry Nicholls to take a very good catch. Once his wicket fell, the end was nigh for India with the lower-order not much skilled to hang in.

From 142/6, India were bundled out for 170 with a lead of only 138 runs. Also, they batted for only 43 overs leaving New Zealand 53 overs to get to the target.

Ravi Ashwin gives hope

Though the target was only 139, India was never going to make it easy for their opponents. And Tom Latham and Devon Conway realised it soon. However, they saw off the tricky phase before Tea unscathed. Once the action resumed, Ravi Ashwin took control of the proceedings and dismissed both the batsmen in a matter of minutes.

Latham ran past a proper off-spinning delivery to get stumped while Conway was trapped in front of the stumps. Things were in balance at this moment with New Zealand at 44/2. Needing 95 more runs and Ashwin bowling beautifully, there was a sniff. Ross Taylor took 16 deliveries to get off the mark and this was the phase when there was no run scored for almost five overs.

Taylor and Williamson win it for New Zealand

Someone had to go at it and Taylor was brave enough to swat one over the top of the in-field and churned out a crucial boundary. This broke the ice and runs started flowing since then. By the time, India tried to have control again with a few maidens, New Zealand were no more under pressure with two of their most experienced batsmen batting superbly.

The veteran Taylor made sure to put off bad balls while Williamson was as usual class. A cover drive that he played was the testament of his pure class with the bat and proved how important he is for the Kiwis for the umpteenth time. As the partnership grew, the shoulders began to drop even as Pujara dropped him in the slips which was, in a way, a final nail in the coffin.

Indian bowlers kept coming at them with more vigour every time but both Williamson and Taylor weathered the storm and scored runs. They were so much determined with the finishing line in the sight and made sure that New Zealand got over the line with eight wickets in hand.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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