Twitter reacts as New Zealand shock India to reach Cricket World Cup final

India vs. New Zealand

• ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final
• New Zealand innings: 239-8 (50 overs)
• India innings: 221 all out (49.3 overs)
• New Zealand won by 18 runs

New Zealand are through to their second successive Cricket World Cup final after a shock 18-run victory over India.

The semi-final at Old Trafford, which was played over two days because of rain, saw the Blacks Caps resume on 211-5 and go on to post 239-8.

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In response India’s top order was skittled out with Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli all scoring just one run. After 3.1 overs India were reduced to 5-3 chasing the total of 240.

Ravindra Jadeja’s 77 from 59 balls and MS Dhoni’s 50 gave India hope. However, Martin Guptill’s brilliant run-out of Dhoni ended India’s chances of reaching the final.

Man-of-the-match Matt Henry took 3-37 including the early wickets of India openers Rohit and Rahul. The bowler said after the match: “We pride ourselves on always giving ourselves a chance. They have world-class finishers and they were very dangerous, we knew we’d have to bowl them out to win.

“It’s special to be going to Lord’s on Sunday. Thank you to the fans, the support has been brilliant.”

‘Keeping our feet on the ground’

New Zealand will now play Australia or England in Sunday’s showpiece match at Lord’s. In the 2015 final the Kiwis lost by seven wickets to Australia.

Captain Kane Williamson said: “It’s a different feeling to last time. We’ve had to skin it over the round robin, so it’s been quite different. A lot of heart has been shown by the guys so far but we’re keeping our feet on the ground. It was a great semi-final and we’re happy to be on the right side of it.

“It was really tough batting conditions yesterday. We had to assess conditions quickly, I think both sides thought it would be a higher scoring game. We spoke about getting 240-250 and we knew that would be competitive. There were a lot of contributions from everyone to get us to that total.

“We spoke about the conditions during the interval, we wanted to put the ball in good areas and move the ball around and put some pressure on India, they are a world-class side. It was a great start from the bowlers, we knew it would get tougher for us as the innings went on. We showed plenty of heart and the fielders and bowlers were outstanding.”

Indian hopes shattered

For India it was another disappointing result in a semi-final. They had been tipped as one of the favourites to lift the trophy, but the disastrous opening spell in their batting innings proved costly.

India skipper Kohli said: “We thought we had restricted them to a total that is chaseable on any surface. But the way they bowled in that first half an hour was the difference in the game.

“It was fine having to come back today. We had a good day yesterday and I’m very proud of that effort. Then it was a professional effort with the ball this morning and we had the momentum.

“But credit to the New Zealand bowlers - the way they bowled with the new ball, moving it around, it was an outstanding skill level on display and they made life very difficult for our batsmen.”

How cricket fans reacted on Twitter to New Zealand’s shock win