IND vs NZ: MS Dhoni's heart-breaking runout, Bumrah's charismatic over; Five most memorable matches played between India and New Zealand

The first semi-final match of the World Cup 2023 will be played between India and New Zealand on 15 November. Team India's performance under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma has been amazing in the tournament. The team has tasted victory in all the 9 matches played so far. However, now it is the turn of the semi-final match, where there is no scope for mistakes.

Anyway, the record of the Kiwi team in the knockout matches of ICC events has been quite strong against India. Whenever these two teams have come on the field against each other in the 50-over format, the excitement has been at its peak. Let us tell you about five such memorable matches.

1. Dream of becoming champion broken in 2019

In the year 2019, the semi-final match of the World Cup played between India and New Zealand (IND vs NZ) on the soil of England was very exciting. Batting first, the New Zealand team scored 239 runs on the scoreboard. However, after this rain disrupted the match the match had to be shifted to the reserve day. While chasing the target, the Indian team was all out after scoring 221 runs. The whole game was overturned as soon as MS Dhoni was run out in this match. This was also Mahi's last match in international cricket.

2. The Kiwi team defeated in the World Cup

In the World Cup played in 2003, India had tasted defeat to New Zealand by 7 wickets. In this match, Zaheer Khan wreaked havoc with the new ball and dismissed two New Zealand batsmen in just three balls. The entire Kiwi team was all out after scoring just 146 runs. However, while chasing runs, India also lost the wickets of Sachin, Ganguly, and Sehwag at the score of just 21 runs, but due to the strong innings of Kaif and Rahul Dravid, Team India was successful in hitting the ground.

3. Charismatic last over of Bumrah

Another exciting match was played between India and New Zealand in the year 2017 on the ground of Kanpur. In this match, Rohit Sharma created a lot of havoc with the bat and scored 147 runs in 138 balls. At the same time, Kohli also scored a century. However, New Zealand chased the target of 338 runs brilliantly.

Kane Williamson played brilliant innings of 65 runs, Colin Munro played 75 runs and Tom Latham played brilliant innings of 65 runs. The Kiwi team needed 15 runs in the last over to win, but Boom-Boom Bumrah sealed the team's victory by giving just 8 runs in the over.

4. Sachin Ganguly's hard work was wasted

In the year 2000, the final match of the Knockout Trophy was played between India and New Zealand. In this match, India batted first and scored 264 runs on the scoreboard. Sachin Tendulkar and Ganguly had made a partnership of 141 runs for the first wicket, but as soon as both of them were out, India's batting order fell apart like a pack of cards.

Chasing the target of 265 runs, the New Zealand team was also struggling at one time, losing five wickets at the score of 132, but due to the century innings of Chris Cairns, the Kiwi team was successful in winning with two balls remaining.

5. Match was tied in 2014

In the year 2014, a very exciting match was played between India and New Zealand, which ended in a tie. Batting first, the Kiwi team scored 314 runs on the scoreboard with the help of Martin Guptill's century and captain Kane Williamson's half-century. The Indian team, which came to chase the target of 315 runs, had a bad start and four batsmen of the team returned to the pavilion with a score of only 79.

After this, MS Dhoni along with Ashwin handled the innings and both scored half-centuries. However, the real show-stealer was batsman Ravindra Jadeja, who tied the match by scoring 17 runs in the last over. Jaddu played a brilliant inning of 66 runs in 46 balls in this match.

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