
Cricket World Cup 2023 semi final: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is all praises for the Rohit Sharma-led Team India after the Men in Blue cruised towards the World Cup 2023 final with swag. India defeated New Zealand by a comfortable margin of 70 runs, continuing its unbeaten streak with its 10th consecutive win in this World Cup.
Commenting on India's unbeaten streak in the World Cup, Williamson believes that India is the best team in the world right now and are playing their best cricket. He added that the way they are playing at present is incredible.
"Yeah, for India's next match? Yeah. They're the best team in the world and they're all playing their best cricket, so that's tough. And I think we see in cricket- often it's surrounded with failure and how you deal with it. The way they've played throughout this tournament has been incredible," the New Zealand captain was seen telling reporters after the tournament.
Kane Williamson was wowed by India's performance in the ongoing tournament as he said the hosts will head into the penultimate match of the tournament brimming with confidence.
"They haven't missed a beat really and to come into a semi-final, you go through your round-robin and you try and get to the stage and it starts again but the way they came out and played, yeah, shows the mindset that they have and the space that they're in and I've got no doubt they'll go into that next match full of confidence," he said.
In this match, Virat Kohli made his 50th ODI century and broke Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries. Kohli's century and Shreyas Iyer's 105 runs helped India set a mammoth target of 397/4. Mohammed Shami's 7-wicket haul, however, sealed the deal for the Men in Blue.
Shami picked up 7 wickets for 57 runs in 9.5 overs and emerged as one of the most successful bowlers in the history of the World Cup. Due to Shami's firebrand bowling, the Blackcaps were all out for 327 runs in 48.5 overs. The top performer from the Blackcaps' side in this match was Daryl Mitchell, who scored 134 runs out of the total 327/10.
With this feat, the Men in Blue have reached the final for the fourth time. India has won the World Cup trophy twice so far-- in 1983 under the captaincy of 'Haryana Hurricane' Kapil Dev and in 2011 under the captaincy of 'Captain Cool' Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The team ended runners-up in 2003 and will know their contendor in the finals after the Australia vs South Africa clash at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.
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