New Zealand Shock India in 2019 Cricket World Cup Semi-Final Thriller

New Zealand stunned India in the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final on Wednesday, with the Black Caps securing a spot in Sunday's final courtesy of a thrilling 18-run win at Old Trafford. 

The match was suspended on Tuesday due to rain. With New Zealand completing their innings on Wednesday morning, they eventually posted a total of 239 for eight from their 50 overs.

India's top order were blown away in response, as Matt Henry and Trent Boult tore through them with the new ball. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul fell for one run apiece, leaving India five for three at one stage.

With his team toiling at 92 for 6, Ravindra Jadeja came to the crease and took the attack to the New Zealand bowlers, building an excellent partnership with M.S. Dhoni to give his side hope. But his terrific innings of 77 proved to be in vain. He was dismissed late on and watched his team come up short on 221 all out.

New Zealand will now face host nation England or rivals Australia in the final, with the two set to meet on Thursday at Edgbaston.

Recap

After rain curtailed play on Tuesday, New Zealand returned to the crease to face the final 23 balls of their innings on 211 for five, eventually pushing their score up to a mediocre 239 for eight.

With a modest total to defend, it was crucial New Zealand started well with the ball. In Boult and Henry, they had two men in red-hot form.

Henry took the key wicket of Sharma, who had previously scored five centuries in the World Cup, before Boult was on hand in the third over to pin the India captain Kohli in front LBW.

Per the statistician Mazher Arshad, the dismissal continued a poor trend of semi-final scores from arguably the world's best batsman:

At five for two, India needed to steady themselves. However, Henry struck again in the fourth over, as KL Rahul edged behind to Tom Latham, putting India in deep trouble.

The New Zealand Twitter account revelled in the start the team made: 

The thrills didn't stop either, as Heny picked up his third wicket in the 10th over. This time, he owed a big thanks to Jimmy Neesham, who pulled off a fantastic catch low to his left to dismiss Dinesh Karthik: 

New Zealand finally faced some resistance from Rishabh Pant and Hardik Panya, who slowly built a partnership. However, they tried to get after the New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner, and the left-armer got both for 32 when trying to play aggressive shots.

Presenter Zainab Abbas commented on how the pressure appeared to be getting to the India players: 

At this point, Jadeja came in and injected some hope into the India cause, as he counter-attacked with some big shots. The all-rounder was able to move to 50 from just 39 balls, and with the experienced Dhoni alongside him, India were still in with an outside chance.

As the tension mounted heading into the latter overs, Jadeja continued to keep his cool and accelerated his scoring.

Boult was able to retain his composure in the final stages, though, and when Jadeja tried to launch him over the boundary, he skewed his effort to Kane Williamson, who held onto the catch.

The onus was then on Dhoni to deliver in the latter stages and after hammering a six to keep India's slender hopes alive, he was brilliantly run out by Martin Guptill for 50 the very next ball. With that, India's hopes had all but gone, and they eventually slipped to 221 all out.