India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was at his economical best against New Zealand in the first semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Old Trafford, Manchester on Tuesday.
Jadeja, 30, was the first Indian bowler to complete a spell of allotted 10 overs for figures of 1/34. And what a wicket it was.
Asked to bowl first, India got off the brilliant start with both the pacers, courtesy the collective brilliance of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. After the fall of Martin Guptill in the fourth over to Bumrah, Henry Nicholls and Kane Williamson steadied the Kiwi innings.
But Jadeja, in his fifth over, produced a brilliant delivery to breach Nicholls' defence through bat-pad to break a 68-run stand.
Watch it here:
The play was stopped due to rain after 46.1 overs' play with New Zealand at 211/5. Veteran Ross Taylor was unbeaten on 67 off 85 balls.
Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and opted to field. India made one change in their playing eleven, replacing Kuldeep Yadav with Yuzvendra Chahal. A fit-again Lockie Ferguson replaced Tim Southee in the New Zealand line-up.
Teams
India: Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Trent Boult.
