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WICKET! Ravindra b Kuldeep 37 (New Zealand 69-2)
Ooops. Kuldeep Yadav enters the match and begins with a googly to flummox Ravindra, the stumps rattled, both openers gone.
10th over: New Zealand 69-1 (Williamson 9, Ravindra 37) The remarkable Chakravarthy continues. His battle with Williamson should be fun; the No 3 reads the drift nicely to pick up a leg-side single. New Zealand will be pretty chuffed with that powerplay.
9th over: New Zealand 64-1 (Williamson 6, Ravindra 35) Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s greatest, meets Mohammed Shami with a backfoot punch through the covers for four.
8th over: New Zealand 58-1 (Williamson 1, Ravindra 34) Rohit called in Chakravarthy early knowing a wicket was required. The spinner has obliged.
WICKET! Young lbw Chakravarthy 15 (New Zealand 57-1)
Ravindra is given out on the field, caught down the leg side by Rahul off Chakravarthy. The batter reviews and the replay shows he was nowhere near it. And then Ravindra is dropped once again! He slog-sweeps Chakravarthy, doesn’t get a clean connection, and Shreyas Iyer, running around at deep midwicket, can’t hold on when diving forward. But here’s an actual, real, genuine wicket! Chakravarthy tosses one up and hits Young straight on the pad, with no review required. India finally have some joy.
7th over: New Zealand 51-0 (Young 15, Ravindra 29) Shami looks more threatening against Ravindra when going around the wicket, producing an lbw shout early in the over. A touch too high. And then a drop! Ravindra tries to play through the leg side but the ball ends up going back to Shami, who can’t hold on in his follow through. The quick’s done some damage to his little finger and requires some brief medical attention. Young ends the over with a well-placed thump through the leg side, bringing up New Zealand’s fifty.
6th over: New Zealand 46-0 (Young 11, Ravindra 28) Rohit Sharma calls for Varun Chakravarthy, an admission of how well New Zealand have begun. The mystery tweaker begins awkwardly, his first ball running down the leg side and all the way to the boundary. Ravindra gets the sweep out to collect a couple.
Tom Weldhen writes in: “It’s a travesty that the BCCI rules world cricket with such impunity and gets to do whatever it wants. Really feel for the Pakistani fans, who turned up in great numbers for games not involving Pakistan. I’m sure everyone who is not Indian in world cricket hopes the kiwis can do it and it would be hella funny if they do!”
5th over: New Zealand 37-0 (Young 10, Ravindra 25) A stunner from Ravindra: he flicks a ball on off stump through midwicket, along the carpet, for four. Ravi Shastri and Nasser Hussain are gushing on comms. Mohammed Shami responds well, going around the wicket to find the outside edge … but the ball runs away to the boundary.
4th over: New Zealand 26-0 (Young 8, Ravindra 16) Pandya, key in this side as the only bit of seam support for Shami, begins well until dropping short – Ravindra hits a staggering pull over deep midwicket for six. A gorgeous punch through point follows for four, the crowd silent. Another pull, for four more, ends the over. He’s special, this kid.
3rd over: New Zealand 10-0 (Young 7, Ravindra 2) Ravindra and Young can’t lace Shami to the boundary but they still run hard, taking four off the over.
“The only thing crueler than Henry missing out on the final is Pakistan the host country missing out on the final,” writes Nathan Green. “Oh wait, that’s farcical.”
2nd over: New Zealand 6-0 (Young 4, Ravindra 1) Hardik Pandya shares the new ball and begins with a leg-side wide to the in-form Rachin Ravindra. Four dots follow before Ravindra sneaks a single with a bunt into the covers.
1st over: New Zealand 4-0 (Young 4, Ravindra 0) Shami begins with a delicious outswinger to beat the bat of Young. The India quick is tight with his line … until the final ball of the over. Young sees some width and calmly carves behind point for four.
India take to the field, Rachin Ravindra and Will Young follow. Mohammed Shami skips in …
New Zealand choosing to bat first can be explained by the difficulties they had chasing against India at this venue during the group stage. Interestingly, the Black Caps batted first in their 2015, 2019 and 2021 World Cup final defeats, too. Eeeek.
The teams
Nathan Smith replaces Henry which at least extends New Zealand’s batting depth. India are unchanged from their semi-final win over Australia.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy
New Zealand: Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Will O’Rourke
New Zealand win the toss and will bat first
Ravi Shastri bellows into the mic before the coin flies. New Zealand win it and choose to bat first. Mitch Santner breaks the big news: Matt Henry, the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, has been ruled out after sustaining a shoulder injury in the semi-final against South Africa. A massive blow.
Preamble
The people I’m thinking of at the moment? The game’s obsessives in Lahore, the people who’d waited decades for a major tournament to come to Pakistan, the ones who shower as much love upon visitors as they do their own. That their own men exited quickly was disappointing; that they’ve had their final shipped off to Dubai is farcical.
India are a hell of a side regardless of conditions. But they have clearly benefited from not having to travel during the tournament, spending weeks examining a favourable square. Those who argue otherwise are kidding themselves. Rohit Sharma’s men begin as overwhelming favourites.
Enter New Zealand, a side looking to make that final step after a decade of near misses in white-ball cricket. Aside from the lost 50–over World Cup finals in 2015 and 2019, there was defeat in the T20 equivalent in late 2021. Mitchell Santner has led brilliantly in his first tournament as captain, his team packed with variety and still beholden to the old-world brilliance of Kane Williamson at No 3. They are up against it … but so were Australia 16 months ago.
I’ll be here to guide you through the entire game and, yes, I’ll cheer up eventually. Drop me a line with your thoughts, queries, song requests, whatever makes you happy.
