Men in Blue produced an all-round performance to inflict New Zealand’s first loss in the ongoing World Cup tournament. Beating the Black Caps by 4 wickets, India recorded their first win against New Zealand in an ICC tournament match since 2003. Master of the chase, Virat Kohli was in complete control and took India near the finish line with a marvelous knock of 95 while Ravindra Jadeja (39) hit the winning runs to reach the target of 274. Earlier, Mohammed starred with a five-wicket haul for India.

After being put into bat first, the Kiwis lost in-form Devon Conway for a duck when Shreyas Iyer took a brilliant low catch. Will Young and Rachin Ravindra played a few elegant shots to score runs and looked to steady their innings. But Shami cleaned up Young (17) with the first delivery of his spell. However, Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell took the game away from India with a superb partnership of 169 runs.

Shami gave the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Ravindra for 75. On the other end, Mitchell reached his century with some clean hits. Glenn Phillips chipped in with 23 while other batters lost their wicket cheaply. Shami bowled a brilliant second spell and took quick wickets to restrict the Kiwis inside 300. Mitchell’s 130 helped his side to reach 273 in 50 overs.

India’s chase got off to a good start as the in-form Rohit Sharma rained sixes. Shubman Gill gave fine support to his captain, playing some elegant shots to find the boundary rope. Sharma (46) and Gill (26) departed in quick succession. Iyer and KL Rahul chipped in with 33 and 27 respectively. Kohli and Jadeja stitched a crucial 78-run partnership to help India register its fifth-straight win in the tournament.