Virat Kohli’s record-breaking 50th ODI century saw him leapfrog the great Sachin Tendulkar and propel India into a fourth World Cup final following a 70-run win over New Zealand.
Tendulkar was in his home city of Mumbai to witness first-hand Kohli set a new benchmark in ODIs with a typically assured 117 off 113 balls that laid the foundations for India’s mammoth 397 for four.
After moving to three figures off 106 balls, Kohli leapt and punched the air, briefly sunk to his knees before rising and soaking up the acclaim from a frenzied crowd, including Tendulkar and David Beckham.
Tendulkar wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, he “couldn’t be happier that an Indian broke my record” as Kohli moved into a class of his own in his 291st ODI – 172 fewer than his former team-mate.
New Zealand battled hard in the chase but their hopes of a third successive World Cup final appearance were dashed despite an excellent 134 from 119 balls from Daryl Mitchell as they were all out for 327.
Fast bowler Mohammed Shami’s career-best seven for 57 took him to the top of the tournament’s wicket-taking charts after only six outings and was instrumental as the 1983 and 2011 champions gained a measure of revenge for being dumped out at the same stage of the 2019 tournament by the Black Caps.
After ending a run of semi-final defeats and claiming a 10th straight win in a tournament they are dominating, India can look forward to a showdown against either Australia or South Africa on Sunday.
There was controversy before the toss because of a late switch from a fresh to a used pitch but Kohli’s landmark innings, containing nine fours and two sixes, relegated the issue to a mere subplot.
Rohit Sharma lit the touchpaper for an India onslaught after they won the toss with 47 off 29 deliveries, while Shubman Gill contributed an unbeaten 80 off 66 balls despite struggling with cramp.
Kohli moved quickly through the gears alongside first Gill, who retired hurt on 79 before returning late on, then Shreyas Iyer, who thumped eight of India’s 19 sixes in his 105 off 70 deliveries.
This was Kohli’s day, though, and he got to his ton with a slap across the line, coming back for a second run before taking in the acclaim as Kiwi captain Kane Williamson offered his congratulations.
Kohli eventually holed out to deep backward square-leg off Tim Southee, who claimed three for 100, but India buttressed their total by adding 110 in the last 10 overs as New Zealand’s bowlers were flayed.
The 2015 and 2019 finalists slipped to 39 for two as Shami brushed the outside edges of Devon Conway then Rachin Ravindra but Williamson and Mitchell combined for 181 off 149 balls to frustrate India.
Mitchell was especially attacking – thumping seven sixes overall – and when Shami spilled a simple chance at mid-on when Williamson was on 52, the momentum was creeping slowly towards New Zealand.
Shami, though, atoned when Williamson miscued into the deep on 69 and Tom Latham was lbw two balls later to put India back in the driving seat, shortly after Mitchell had brought up an 85-ball hundred.
Mitchell kept plugging away but the required run-rate spiralled well into double figures before he gave Shami his five-for after whipping to Ravindra Jadeja on the boundary, and with him went New Zealand’s hopes.
Shami bagged Southee and Lockie Ferguson in the penultimate over to become the fifth bowler and first Indian to record a seven-wicket haul in a World Cup match as New Zealand were all out with seven balls unused.
Imlach puts Harpy Eagles’ West Indies Championship success down to togetherness- “We had different players stand up at different times”
Togetherness was the main reason for the Guyana Harpy Eagles successful defence of their West Indies Championship title according to skipper Tevin Imlach.
The Harpy Eagles recovered from a draw and a loss in their first two games to win their final five games on their way to winning their second straight title.
“We had different players stand up at different times which is very important,” Imlach said in an appearance on the Mason & Guest radio show on Tuesday.
“You never want to rely on one or two players. We have a lot of depth in our batting and we have three very good spinners that would’ve played for the West Indies already in Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul and Kevin Sinclair,” Imlach added.
Sinclair and Imlach finished third and sixth on the top run scorers list with 508 and 485 runs, respectively.
Sinclair made one hundred and two fifties and finished with an average of 63.50 in his seven games while Imlach, who missed the first two rounds of the tournament while on West Indies duty, made two hundreds and three fifties in his five games and finished with an average of 53.88.
The Harpy Eagles also had two more batsmen cross the 300-run mark in Kevlon Anderson (332) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (323). Kemol Savory narrowly missed out on joining this club after finishing with 289. Chanderpaul and Savory also both scored a century, each, this season.
It was also a collective effort with the ball for the champions. Permaul led the way with 29 wickets in seven games followed by pacer Nial Smith who finished with 20 wickets from four matches.
Motie and Isai Thorne followed with 19 wickets from five and six matches, respectively, while Kevin Sinclair took 13 wickets in seven games and Ronaldo Alimohamed took 12 wickets in six outings.
This season was also Imlach’s first captaining the Harpy Eagles in the four-day format after taking over from the retired Leon Johnson who led Guyana to six regional four-day titles.
“It was challenging,” Imlach said about filling Johnson’s shoes.
“Big shoes to fill obviously with Leon Johnson retiring but it was good. It is much different when you play with these guys and when you’re in a leadership position because you have to be the one making the calls that they may not necessarily always like. These players want the ball in their hands at all times and want to make a difference so sometimes it is difficult. It’s a good learning experience. I’m learning about them and they’re learning about me as well,” he added.
Imlach was also a member of the West Indies Test squad to Australia in December last year. He said that despite not getting a game, he took some things from his net sessions down under into this first-class season.
“It was very good. It was different to what we are accustomed to in the Caribbean. The pitches are a lot bouncier and the ball tends to seam around a bit more. I didn’t manage to play in the games but I spent some time in the nets and it was good. It was fruitful. I learned a lot that I took into this season,” he said.
Imlach's next assignment could be as part of the regional side to take on England in three Tests from July 10-30.
Nortje makes international return for South Africa's T20 World Cup squad
Anrich Nortje earned a recall to South Africa's fold as he was included in the Proteas' 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup.
Nortje has been in action in the Indian Premier League, but has not played for South Africa, who will be captained by Aiden Markram, in nine months.
While he has taken seven wickets in six matches for the Delhi Capitals, Nortje has gone at 13.36 runs per over, but has been given the nod due to his pace.
"Anrich has got another month before the World Cup starts so I have no doubt he'll hit his straps," South Africa coach Rob Walter said.
"It's good to see that his speed is up. The one thing Anrich has that separates him from others is raw pace. There's not many guys who can bowl 150kph and he can. Pace is an X-factor."
Lungi Ngidi has missed out, though he is a travelling reserve.
Quinton de Kock has not not been in good form, but has made the cut due to historical performances. He is no longer under contract at Cricket South Africa (CSA) and retired from ODIs last year.
"Quinny, we've seen him do it time and time again for us," Walter said.
"Reeza [Hendricks] has been a star performer for us in T20 cricket, was a standout in this domestic CSA T20 challenge again, and Ryan Rickelton has had two outstanding competitions really where he's played the brand of cricket that we're looking to play.
"And then we're going to have Markram and that'll be the top order. It's mostly a performance-based decision and from Quinton's point of view is just a real knowledge of what he's capable of."
Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman have been standout performers in the SA20 this year, and could earn their maiden T20I caps.
South Africa did not make it out of the Super 12 stage at the last World Cup in 2022.
Three big players, Temba Bavuma, Rilee Rossouw and Wayne Parnell, have missed out compared to the squad for that tournament.
The Proteas start their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on June 3, after playing a warm-up series against West Indies.
South Africa squad:
Aiden Markram (capt), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
IPL: Stoinis key for LSG as they rise to third after seeing off Indians
Marcus Stoinis starred for Lucknow Super Giants as they edged to a four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to move into third in the Indian Premier League.
Mumbai's chances of another high-scoring innings were dented early on as Ishan Kishan's low lob was taken by Mayank Yadav before Suryakumar Yadav was caught behind and walked after a successful Lucknow review inside the first three overs.
The Indians struggled to get going, and even Nehal Wadhera's 46 from 41 balls and Tim David's unbeaten 35 off 18 were not enough to drag Mumbai over the 150 mark as they finished their 20 overs on 144-7.
Having been left out of India's T20 World Cup squad, Lucknow captain KL Rahul managed 28 before he was dismissed in the fourth over.
But thanks to Stoinis' heavy lifting, as he plundered 62, including seven fours and two sixes, LSG looked set to cruise to victory.
The momentum stalled, though, when Stoinis was caught out by Tilak Varma, but Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya eventually saw them over the line with just four balls left to play with.
Data Debrief: Another happy away day for Stoinis
This is the third game in which Stoinis has passed 50, and he has enjoyed another high score away from home after reaching 124 in LSG's trip to Chennai Super Kings.
Despite making an early exit, Rahul (406), is now up to fourth in the race for this season's orange cap, although Virat Kohli continues to set the pace with 500 runs.
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