New Zealand have started off the CWC 2023 campaign with 4 consecutive wins. They lost to India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan, on the bounce. They looked like winning against Pakistan, except for Fakhar Zaman’s exceptional innings. Now, they needed to win against Sri Lanka convincingly to meet India in Semi-Finals.
They did exactly the same. They have made it hard for Afghanistan and Pakistan to think about qualification to Semi-Finals. New Zealand have won the toss and elected field first. Sri Lanka looked completely clueless in their batting performance. Kushal Perera scored 51 in 28 balls and gave them Sanath Jayasurya kind off flying start. But they lost 5 wickets before 10 overs completed.
Trent Boult took three wickets while Tim Southee took a pounding, he took one and Lockie Ferguson took another. With such a confusing start, they ended up extending their innings to 46.4 overs and scored 171. New Zealand needed to chase the score in 25 overs, to not give other two teams, a chance to qualify above them.
They did exactly that. Devon Conway(45), Rachin Ravindra(42), Daryl Mitchell(43) did not give Sri Lanka bowlers any chance. New Zealand won the match by 5 wickets with 160 balls remaining. Trent Boult with 3/37 in 10 overs, has become Player of the Match. For now, they have almost confirmed re-match of India vs NZ Semi-final in 2023 like 2019.