New Zealand through to final after clinching thriller against India

Mohammed Shami returned with the best ever figure for an Indian bowler in ODIs to help the hosts defeat New Zealand in the semifinal in Mumbai and book a place in the final of the ICC World Cup 2023.

Although Virat Kohli completed a half-century of hundreds in the match and Shreyas Iyer also hit a quickfire ton, Shami was named the player of the match as it was his seven-wicket haul that put the brakes on New Zealand's run chase.

After the win, Indian fans on social media heaped praises on the bowler. Delhi Police also joined in on praising the pacer by jokingly asking its Mumbai counterpart on X, formerly known as Twitter, to not press charges against the pacer for his 'assault' with the ball on the Kiwi batters.

"@MumbaiPolice hope you do not book @MdShami11 for tonight's assault," the post read.

Mumbai Police also had a humorous response to it, pointing out the other 'crime' the bowler and his teammates committed at the Wankhede Stadium against the Black Caps.

"You missed pressing charges of stealing innumerable hearts @DelhiPolice and listing a couple of co-accused too," Mumbai Police wrote back.

India will now face the winner of today's semifinal between Australia and South Africa in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Mumbai Police also asked Ahmedabad Police to ready a 'chariot' for the undefeated Indian team.

England head coach Trevor Bayliss knows his side must shut out the noise of an expectant nation as they prepare for a first World Cup final in 27 years.

The host nation produced an inspired display to complete an eight-wicket victory over Australia at Edgbaston on Thursday and will meet New Zealand at Lord’s tomorrow.

With the showpiece event also being broadcast on a free-to-air platform following an agreement between rights holders Sky and Channel 4, expectations will be elevated even further.

Australian Bayliss, though, has called for calm as England look to go one better than they did in their last World Cup final appearance in 1992, when they lost against Imran Khan’s Pakistan in Melbourne.

“We had a chat in the changing room (at Edgbaston) afterwards and realised we have not won anything yet,” Bayliss told BBC radio.

“There is going to be a lot of noise around ‘you guys are now the favourites’, and all this type of thing -- we can’t listen to any of that.

“We have just got to concentrate on the way we have gone about our cricket over the past four years and what has got us to this point and go through our process.”

After Australia were all out for 223 in 49 overs, England opener Jason Roy struck a superb 85 from 65 balls as he put on yet another big stand with Jonny Bairstow to break the back of the run chase.

Roy was fined for showing dissent at the umpire’s decision after he was wrongly given out caught behind. Bayliss, though, feels the 28-year-old can soon put the incident behind him.

“I think it shows the passion Jason has got for the game, and it is such a big game as well, when he was on the verge of scoring a hundred,” the England head coach said.

“He will learn from that and go on to bigger and better things, I am sure.”

The Surrey batsman is expected to be in contention for a place in the Ashes squad but Bayliss was giving little away, keeping his focus on the one-day format.

Bayliss said the return of live international cricket to traditional free-to-air television for the first time since the 2005 Ashes was “an opportunity to influence another generation of young cricketers”.

The 56-year-old is set to step down at the end of his current deal in September, no matter what the summer brings.

“I have always been a believer that four or five years is long enough, whether you are doing well or not,” he said. “It is time for a new voice for the boys, to hopefully take them to another level.”

India captain Rohit Sharma said he was proud of his team for battling back from their lowest home total of 46 to make a match of the first Test against New Zealand, despite going down to an eight-wicket defeat on Sunday.

New Zealand chased down a tricky target of 107 after losing two early wickets to register their first Test win in India since 1988.

India were bowled out for their third lowest Test total in 31.2 overs on day two when Rohit chose to bat in overcast conditions.

But in the second innings, Sarfaraz Khan scored 150 and Rishabh Pant 99 as India posted 462.

"Second innings with the bat, to come out and play like that, it felt like we were ahead in the game at one stage," said Rohit.

New Zealand made 402 in their first innings and took a huge 356-run lead.

"We didn't feel like we were 350 behind and that is something that I am really proud of," said Rohit.

"All in all, except for that first three hours, I thought we played very good Test cricket.

"Whatever the situation of the game is, unless you believe it, you are not going to achieve it.

"So, that is the mindset of this team. And I can say it again and again, that this team is not going to give in so easily."

Sarfaraz hit his first century in his fourth Test appearance. The left-handed Pant missed out on his century but took the attack to the opposition.

New Zealand captain Tom Latham expected a backlash from India after the first-innings debacle.

"From our perspective, we knew India were going to come back," said Latham. "They certainly kept challenging us, they kept asking good questions.

"To get a lead from the position that they were in was obviously a quality effort."

It was India's second home Test defeat this year. England  won the opener of a five-match series in January but India won the next four.

"We have lost such matches before and we have made a comeback after that," said Rohit.

"So, we will try not to think too much about this Test match, rather how we have to play in the next two matches. What we have to do and how we have to defeat the team."

The second Test begins on Thursday in Pune. The third is on November 1 in Mumbai.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said his side's experience of playing in front of partisan crowds would serve them well when they face hosts India in a blockbuster World Cup semi-final.

A capacity crowd of over 33,000 is expected at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium -- the home ground of India captain Rohit Sharma -- for Wednesday's clash

New Zealand, losing finalists at the last two World Cups but yet to lift the trophy, knocked India out at the semi-final stage in a rain-affected two-day clash in Manchester four years ago.

Bad weather, however, is unlikely to be an issue in Mumbai and while India had plenty of support at Old Trafford, star batsman Williamson knows that will be as nothing compared to the passionate backing they'll have on Wednesday.

When a reporter told Williamson during a pre-match press conference on Tuesday that the capacity of the Wankhede is 33,108 and "33 of them will be in blue (India's colour)," he jokingly replied: "There'll be more than that."

Williamson, who knows India well from playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League, added: "We're expecting a fairly blue crowd that will be supporting their team.

"We remember over the years, a number of different crowds that we've had that haven't always been your own fans.

"We have got a small country that doesn't always fill out the stadiums but you still appreciate the atmosphere it brings.

"Not many people get that opportunity, cricket in India, playing against India in a World Cup semi-final, is special and something to appreciate and look forward to."

Williamson is particularly glad to be involved after fearing he might not make it to the World Cup before a freak injury threatened to cut short his participation.

After spending nearly seven months out with a serious knee injury, he missed New Zealand's opening wins over champions England and the Netherlands.

He marked his comeback with 78 not out during an eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in Chennai only to suffer a broken left thumb following a wayward throw while running between the wickets.

The 33-year-old then missed several more games before returning with 95 against Pakistan in Bengaluru.

'Frustrating' 

"An interesting journey for sure," said Williamson.

"From sort of it not being a chance (of playing at the World Cup) to getting close and it becoming a reality and something to target...Then to get back and then break my thumb. It was quite frustrating and testing."

But a 10-team round-robin event gave Williamson hope he could still feature later on in the tournament.

"I still felt it hadn't ruled me out, so I was grateful for that and it's nice to be sitting here."

India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in a hard-fought pool match in Dharamsala last month but Williamson played down the impact of that fixture and the 2019 semi-final ahead of Wednesday's clash.

"They (India) are a side that's been playing extremely well, but we also know come finals time, everything sort of starts again."

Williamson was more forthcoming about New Zealand rising star Rachin Ravindra, with the 23-year-old left-handed opener having already scored three hundreds at his debut World Cup.

"He's burst onto the scene and in a big way," said Williamson.

"It's not just the volume of runs that he's achieved so far, but how he's been scoring them and how it's been geared towards trying to move the team forward."

New Zealand are confident they have the foundations in place to continue to compete with the elite at the World Cup even if they could be without Kane Williamson and a few other generational talents when the next edition comes around.

Skipper Williamson had no complaints about how the Blacks Caps were manhandled out of the semifinals by India on Wednesday, possibly bringing to an end his hopes of ever raising the oldest limited-overs World Cup trophy.

The batting great, who has played in four World Cup semi-finals and two finals, will be 37 when southern Africa hosts the quadrennial 50-overs showpiece in 2027, while strike bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult will be 38.

Williamson laughed when the matter was raised at his post-match press conference -- "Are you going to talk about how old we are?, he joked -- before saying he saw signs that the ageing world class talents were bringing along younger players.

"It's been an ongoing effort as a side to keep trying to get better and push the boundaries of where we can get to as a team and all those people are part of that," he said.

"You can only hope that, as we experienced from some of our leaders as young guys, that we can continue to bring players through.

"Some good signs, certainly, in this last period of time. It's not over just yet, but that's where the focus is."

Despite losing five of their last six matches at the tournament, Williamson was proud of what the Black Caps had achieved in India and accepted that they had simply been beaten by a better team at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.

He refused to look for excuses in the injuries that restricted him to four matches, robbed the Black Caps of quick Matt Henry for the last two weeks and also hampered all-rounders Jimmy Neesham and Mark Chapman.

While New Zealand's bowlers did not produce their best in tricky conditions for seamers, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell were the tournament's third and fourth highest run-scorers after Wednesday's match.

Mitchell gave New Zealand a brief glimmer of hope that they might be able to run down the victory target of 398 and reach a third successive final with a spectacular 134 from 119 balls.

The 32-year-old only started playing international cricket four years ago and joined his captain in warning against writing off New Zealand's many thirtysomethings just yet.

"For me now it's trying to make the most of playing for New Zealand for as long as I can and keep trying to move this Silver Fern forward," he told reporters.

"I love being part of this group and we've got a number of world class players who love being in that change-room and love playing for New Zealand.

"I'm sure many of the boys will keep doing it for a while yet."