On Sunday, October 22, during the India vs. New Zealand game in Dharamsala, Mitchell Santner displayed outstanding fielding to cheaply remove Suryakumar Yadav, who was making his World Cup debut. The right-handed batter struggled to make contact with the ball, leaving after only two runs off four pitches.
The event happened during India’s run chase’s 34th over. Trent Boult threw a pitch, which Yadav pushed towards the cover and began to run, but Virat Kohli was waiting for the ball to get beyond the defender.
Santner then pounced on the ball with a full-length dive, forcing Kohli to retreat to the non-striker’s end. Meanwhile, Yadav had covered more than half of the pitch. Santner passed the ball to Boult, who was in the center of the field. The left-arm bowler underarm flipped it back to wicketkeeper Tom Latham for an easy runout.
However, replays revealed that Kohli could have easily finished the run, but he chose to play it safe, costing Yadav’s wicket.
Watch the hilarious rundown below:
Virat Kohli leads India’s fightback in tough chase against NZ in World Cup
In the present World Cup match, Virat Kohli is likely to lead his side to victory in the 274-run chase against New Zealand.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill put on a 71-run stand for the first wicket. Sharma hit 46 off 40 balls, including four sixes and four boundaries, while Gill hit 26 off 31. Lockie Ferguson ejected the pair, allowing the BlackCaps to re-enter the game.
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul also scored 33 (29) and 27 (35) points, respectively. Trent Boult dismissed Iyer, while Mitchell Santner caught Rahul lbw in front of the stumps.
The hosts were 252/5 after 45.3 overs at the time of writing, with Virat Kohli (80) and Ravindra Jadeja (34) at the crease.
Batting first, New Zealand scored 273 runs in 50 overs. Rachin Ravindra scored 75 off 87 balls, including one maximum and six fours, while Daryl Mitchell struck 130 off 127 balls, including five sixes and nine boundaries. The pair established a 159-run third-wicket stand to help their team comeback from 19/2.
Mohammed Shami shone with the bowling, taking 5/54 in his first 2023 World Cup game, while Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets.