India has been knocked out of the ICC Cricket World Cup after their batting side collapsed on just 221 runs. which was 18 runs short of the target set by New Zealand.
A great majority of cricket fans had predicted that India would win because it was thought to be the favourite team in this Cricket World Cup, while New Zealand were deemed to be the underdogs in today’s semi-final match. For example, Shoaib Akhtar, an ex-cricketer for Pakistan tweeted yesterday: “Flipping over to the next day can go heavily in India’s favor. Hoping for a full game tomorrow”.
However, India’s likelihood of winning the match depleted early on during their batting when they were four wickets down on just 24 runs. Many Indian fans at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground could simply not believe the shambolic performance of their batsmen.
Even before India put 100 runs on the scoreboard, they were six wickets down. Not even a 116 run partnership was enough to rescue the batting side because their current run rate did not correspond to the required run rate. Their last four wickets fell within 13 runs.
In response to this completely unexpected result, many notable figures congratulated the New Zealand side for their remarkable, hard-earned well deserved victory. Boman Irani, a prominent Indian actor acknowledged that “as these thumbs sadly type the unthinkable, its only fair to applaud New Zealand for this outstanding effort”.
Asif Ghafoor, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s Armed Forces, also expressed his happiness for New Zealand’s win. In a tweet earlier today, he wrote that it was “a scintillating win to reach ICC WC Final. Team reflected spirit and sportsmanship carried from a great nation with moral values”.
Now, New Zealand will either play Australia or England in the final on Sunday 14 July at Lord’s in London.
