India's desire is now on the final stage

 

Shami takes 7 wickets: AFP

India: 397/4 in 50 overs

New Zealand: 327 in 48.5 overs

Result: India won by 70 runs

Mohammad Shami was supposed to be in talks anyway. As the pairing of Kane Williamson with Daryl Mitchell was becoming a cause for concern for India, there was a hiss from the gallery. An expression of disappointment, of disbelief. How Mohammad Shami threw such an easy catch!

At this time Steve Waugh returned. Also Herschel Gibbs. That match at Headingley in the 1999 World Cup. Steve Waugh dropped the catch while Herschel Gibbs was celebrating earlier. Steve Waugh told him, 'Dude, you just threw the World Cup away!' But the story is so beautiful that no one wanted to spoil it with information. That's what's going on.

The question arises whether Shami has thrown the World Cup or not. However, the destination of New Zealand is still a long way off. They have been asked to climb the mountain of 398 runs. Not even half of that road has been covered. Run 186 for 2 wickets. However, the way Mitchell and Williamson are progressing, the impossible cannot be ruled out. The face of Wankhede from noon The gallery is mostly silent. Rohit Sharma will later say, he is very familiar with this Wankhede. There is no way to rest assured here with no score. At that time he also fell into a little thought.

What can Mohammed Shami then do? There is no way to correct the mistake you have made. But being a bowler himself, there was an opportunity to do something. So say so much? Earlier, he took the first two wickets of New Zealand. That was in his first two overs, the first being the first ball. The catch that gave Williamson a new lease of life, he also did the job of returning him. Not allowing him to score more than 17 runs in his new life. New batsman Tom Latham was also his victim after one ball. Atonement is done.

Mohammad Shamir may have felt that this is not enough. That is why the end of the match is also in his hands. When 7 wickets next to his name. New Zealand's lone batsman Darryl Mitchell is also on the victim list. It is the fifth time a bowler has taken 7 wickets in the World Cup. The name is also number 5 in the best bowling list because he gave a little more runs. A reader's comment on Cricinfo Commentary shortly after the end of the match seems to be as good as Shamir's bowling. It's not a semi-final, it's a shami-final.

Shami – Final: AA

Five minutes after the end of the match, a huge celebration started right below the Wankhede press box. Dhak is playing, and dancing is going on to its beat. Ahmedabad preparation too. India won the World Cup 12 years ago at this Wankhede in a final that ended with Dhoni's six. This time Wankhede reached the door of winning another World Cup. India won 9 consecutive matches in the round robin league The semi-finals were similarly overwhelming. Whether the opponent is Australia or South Africa in the final in Ahmedabad on November 19, India will be the pre-match favourites.

Big controversy over the wicket before the match. Instead of the new wicket fixed earlier, the game is being played on the adjacent wicket. Where there have been two World Cup matches before. There is no rule that semi-finals cannot be played on previously used wickets. The ICC said that it is not new to change the previous plan at the end of such a long tournament.

But he said after the news was published in the media. The source of the news is the leaked e-mails of Andy Atkinson, the ICC-appointed pitch expert. He clearly expressed his displeasure. It should not be difficult for anyone to combine two by two and four. Wicket used to meet India's demand. So that spinners get more advantage.

Only Virat Kohli was supposed to be in the match: AFP

New Zealand, however, have little room to complain. The ball did not take any such turn during their batting. Doom is not in the hands of any spinner. The wicket remains the same for both teams. Which wicket to play on is more important at the Wankhede than which team wins the toss. There is such a stark difference between batting first and batting later on this ground in the World Cup that a joke in the press box after Rohit Sharma won the toss went viral. This is the first time in cricket history that a captain has not been asked what he wants to do after winning the toss.

Winning the toss and batting is the rule at Wankhede. Barring one exception, the rule is to score three and a half hundred more runs. South Africa almost made four hundreds in two matches. India did the same. It didn't happen for just 3 runs. Rohit Sharma is going to bat in this World Cup with the mission of killing the opponent at the risk of dying himself. Successful in that day with 47 runs in 29 balls at a strike rate of 162. When he got out in the ninth over, 71 runs went up on the scoreboard.Winning the toss and batting is the rule at Wankhede. Barring one exception, the rule is to score three and a half hundred more runs. South Africa almost made four hundreds in two matches. India did the same. It didn't happen for just 3 runs. Rohit Sharma is going to bat in this World Cup with the mission of killing the opponent at the risk of dying himself. Successful in that day with 47 runs in 29 balls at a strike rate of 162. When he got out in the ninth over, 71 runs went up on the scoreboard.

In this World Cup, Rohit Sharma is providing the initial fuel, then the Kohli-engine is pulling India. And on this day India's innings is completely Kohli. The century that Shreyas Iyer has scored, any day there would be a lot of poetry about him. But this is Virat Kohli's day. A day when he would continue to break his records one after another in front of his childhood hero. Record for most runs in a World Cup before establishing sole ownership of the record for most centuries in ODIs. That too belonged to Sachin Tendulkar.

The match was supposed to be Virat Kohli's only. But in the end he had to be happy as a side hero. So the name of the hero? And who, Mohammed Shami!