ABU DHABI: A fascinating match worthy of a semifinal unfolded at Abu Dhabi. New Zealand Daryl Mitchell’s stunning 72 off 47 balls together with a power hitting cameo from Neesham (27 runs) saw New Zealand beating England by 5 wickets to enter its first T20 world cup.
Earlier, New Zealand captain Williamson won the toss and elected to field first. Bairstow opened with Jos Buttler and Bairstow was the first wicket to fall when the England score was 37. Kiwi’s key spin bowler Sodhi picked up Buttler for 26 runs when England total was 53 runs. Dawid Malan (41 off 30 balls) and Moeen Ali (51* off 37 balls) and 17-runs power knock from Livingstone navigated the England innings to reach 166 for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs.
New Zealand needing a run rate of 8.35 opened with Guptill and Daryl Mitchell. England’s Chris Woakes got two vital wickets of Guptill and Williamson within the power play to keep New Zealand in check in their chase. New Zealand chasing 167 only reached 36 runs for the loss of 2 wickets at the end of the power play. Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell tried to regain control by slowly building a partnership. They successfully put together valuable 82 runs but Conway was stumped by Jos Buttler for 46 runs to halt his journey.
34 runs in the last 3 overs was the equation set for Daryly Mitchell who was batting at 46 runs and Neesham at 20 runs. Kiwis picked up 14 runs off Adil Rashid but also lost Neesham for 27 runs. Needing 20 runs off the last 2 overs, the emotions of both teams were on high. Daryl Mitchell took the responsibility to carry his bat through and the Kiwis to the Finals with an over to spare
The Kiwis played as a cohesive unit keeping themselves in the game till the latter part of the innings and turning the accelerator at the latter part of the innings to beat England by 5 wickets. Skipper Kane Williamson leads New Zealand to its first T20I World Cup Final.
Daryl Mitchell was named the player of the match for his unbeaten 72 runs.(RZ)
[Image credit icc-cricket.com]
