Live Report - India vs New Zealand

11m ago

Kuldeep was getting his game back on track.

He bested Ravindra twice, the batter's attempts to go deep in his crease to flat bat some runs, and to come down the track and smash some, going in vain.

Those were two good wins for the bowler.

Then Mitchell comes on strike and Kuldeep gets one over him too. A 114 kph change up as soon as he saw the right-hander going to reverse sweep hits him on the arm and Rohit is in splits laughing.

The very next ball is an artful little googly. The line is wide. The spin takes it wider. Mitchell is a power hitter but when its that wide, he'll have to reach away from his body and that diminishes his power. Bumrah is at long-off. He runs to his right, he gets two hands to it, but it slips right through and goes for four.

It's strange that Rohit hasn't brought Bumrah back in the middle overs.

You'd think he's India's best chance of a wicket, and once one falls, they can build pressure again.

Kuldeep will become effective again because he'd be bowling to a guy who isn't used to the conditions here.

48 Kuldeep has conceded more runs in just five overs today, than he's done in any of his previous games at the World Cup

One way traffic - Mitchell vs Kuldeep in this game. NZ are 167 for 2 after 32 overs.

25m ago

India thought they'd broken the partnership when a cross-seam yorker from Siraj rapped Ravindra on the pads.

The on-field decision from umpire Adrian Holdstock gave it out but DRS - the two batters only went there because they knew how hard it would be for a new guy to come and deal with this two-paced pitch - and the replay eventually showed that the ball from over the wicket pitched outside the left-handers leg stump. No lbw.

A few balls later, in Ravindra Jadeja's last over, Daryl Mitchell tries to go inside out and find a boundary over cover, but he made too much room and offered a fine edge to the wicketkeeper. But Rahul got up a little too early and he wasn't able to get his gloves on it.

A little luck going NZ's way. They've also earned a bit of that by absorbing the pressure from the early overs and transferring it back.

Even Jadeja, who is a banker, wasn't able to get through this partnership unscathed. Mitchell was coming down the track to him, he was reverse sweeping him, he wasn't letting him settle easily

39m ago

It is clear that this is not a 300-350 pitch.

India have sensed that they cannot let this partnership give NZ the foundation to aim for a score in that region and they've brought Siraj back and the bowler, to his credit, is making the most of the vagaries of the pitch

It's slow. It's two-paced. And every time he goes for his tricks - the cross-seamers, the bouncers and the slower balls - it's putting the batter off.

Daryl Mitchell, who is excellent against the short ball, was nearly beaten for pace.

Rachin Ravindra, looking to turn one just short of a good length, into midwicket connected only with his leading edge.

Lockie Ferguson hits these same short lengths in the middle overs. He'll be taking notes.

India are expecting dew later in the evening and if that does arrive, the ball will start to skid off the pitch and come on nicely.

NZ will have to factor that in as well as they set this total

257 runs and counting for Rachin Ravindra from five innings in his first World Cup campaign - the highest for NZ in 2023. He's just got to a fifty against India at a strike rate of 89 after coming in at 19 for 2

He's only 23 years old. His judgment of length is excellent, especially against spin and it caters to his strength which is his back foot game against slow bowling. His family living in Bangalore will be coming to see him when NZ shift bases there for the next leg of this World Cup. They'll be very proud

8 times that Daryl Mitchell has come out of his crease, and those trips have earned him 17 runs - two sixes, a four and a single

He's batting out there while NZ's greatest No. 4 batter is in the commentary box.

Ross Taylor has been a huge part of this team's success in ICC tournaments. When a player like that retires, it usually takes a bit of time to replace him.

But Mitchell has ripped that up. He has been so consistent, across formats, and its because of a very simple method. He trusts his power and he focuses that power on hitting straight. Three of his four boundaries today have come in that direction.

This is the thing with New Zealand. They don't crumble under a crisis. They take the blows - just like they did against Bumrah and Siraj - then they get themselves back up, back on steady ground, and then they punch back.

Mitchell's also doing one other clever thing. He's targeting Kuldeep on a pitch that isn't turning a whole lot. He's backing his reach to get to the pitch of the ball and his power to dominate the spinner. If he can mess with one of India's bowlers - they're only playing five today - that'd be huge tick because Rohit will have no one else to turn to.

KULDEEP'S FIRST THREE OVERS

50 off 53 balls put on by Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell after coming together at 19 for 2

Kane Williamson had carried the drinks out to these two batters a little while ago. He's the captain of this side and he's only in a bib because he's injured.

I'm going to take a bit of a logic leap here. Bear with me. NZ could've picked anybody else to run that bottle of fluid out. But they sent the guy who is a specialist at walking in at the fall of early wickets and navigating tough batting conditions. He does it across formats. He does it with almost machine-like efficiency. So maybe he was out there to figure out how to chart the rest of the innings.

NZ pride on making the most of the information available to them and their captain is one of the richest sources of it

1h ago

34 is the third-lowest 10-overs score at this World Cup

Bumrah's economy rate after four overs: 2.75 Siraj's economy rate after four overs: 1.75

Daryl Mitchell's arrival at No. 4 changes the script a bit. He likes going at bowlers. His first act as a batter in the game against Bangladesh was to hit Shakib Al Hasan for a six. That little bit of proactivity messed with Siraj's rhythm and in the end his fifth over ended up looking like this.

19 of the first 24 balls that both Siraj and Bumrah have bowled in this game have been dots

Will Young is itching to go.

But India haven't offered the release shot.

Even Siraj, who often goes searching for a wicket, bowling too full, has been impeccable with his length.

On a slow pitch - which effectively means batters can't really hit through the line or trust their timing for boundaries - with just a hint of movement still on offer with the new ball, both Bumrah and Siraj are tightening the noose.

They're not going for the magic ball. They're just stacking good balls up one by one and piling on the pressure. And it's worked.

Mohammed Shami, playing his first match of the World Cup, comes in and picks up a wicket with his first ball on the back of all the good work his partners did earlier. Young is bowled. NZ 19 for 2.

So this has been happening behind the scenes

And when Ravindra Jadeja took a smart catch against Bangladesh, he immediately signalled he deserved the medal.

Now when Iyer took this catch to remove Conway, he did the same, gesturing for the medal.

The players still aren't completely comfortable with the relaid outfield in Dharamsala. This is the fourth match of the World Cup at this venue and right from the start there's been a focus on its fitness.

Just now, in the third over, with Will Young retracting his bat after offering it to Jasprit Bumrah, and the ball just deflecting off it, went to the boundary because Siraj at third man didn't really seem confident about whether he can dive or not. He went for one in the end, but by that time, it was a bit too late. Obviously he doesn't want to give runs away, but also he doesn't want to get injured.

"Be careful with the oufield," Ravi Shastri even said on the broadcast.

This, in the Indian Express today from Arun Dhumal, HPCA patron and IPL chairman, on Dharamsala outfield controversy: "I felt it was unnecessary controversy. Those who all played the game were fine with it. They said something before the game but when the same team scored 350 runs, they were fine with the outfield. There are two types of grass here, one is for cold and one is for summer. It has a different shade, one is rai and the other is paspalum grass. People thought it was different, there could be misunderstandings by seeing it. There was a shade issue in the outfield but everything is alright now."

Bumrah is pristine to start off.

The fact that he settles on a good length - the kind that forces a batter forward, but never gives him a drive - means he's always in with a chance of early wickets.

Then there's the swing he's getting. He had Devon Conway flirting with a couple moving across him, and he had him fending when he went for the one that cut in.

Too good.

India captain Rohit Sharma says India were at training yesterday and "dew started to come in pretty early", so that's the reason he's taken the call to chase. With Hardik Pandya injured, there's been some tinkering done.

Replacing a two-in-one cricketer is hard. Hardik walks into most sides as just a batter or a bowler. To compensate for his loss, India have brought in a batter - Suryakumar Yadav - and have sacrificed an allrounder to boost their seam stocks - with Shardul Thakur sitting out for Mohammed Shami. Even so, India are a bit light on the bowling front. Only five options as opposed to six. If one of em has a bad day, they have nowhere to turn to. This is why Hardik is such a crucial ingredient in this side. Without him, the balance doesn't quite work.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Suryakumar Yadav, 8 Mohammed Shami, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Mohammed Siraj

New Zealand: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Will Young, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Tom Latham (capt & wk), 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Mark Chapman, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult

3h ago

Both India and New Zealand have excellent top-order batters. But in this game they may come up against the kind of bowling that's figured them out in the past.

How Rohit Sharma and co deal with Trent Boult and co...

... and how Jasprit Bumrah and co deal with Devon Conway and co could be crucial to decide the way this game swings. For more such insights, enjoy our handy-dandy tactics board

3h ago

The class of bowler this game will feature is unreal.

There's Trent Boult who has racked up 60 false responses (4th best) and 131 dot balls (2nd best) in the World Cup so far.

There's Mitchell Santner who is the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 11 wickets.

There's Kuldeep Yadav who has only added to his mystery by upping his pace through the air

There's Ravindra Jadeja, who as Sid Monga memorably noted, hits that good length area so hard he may as well draw water on some coastal areas.

There's Matt Henry, who not that long ago, was struggling to get into the NZ team. But he refused to give up. He lapped up every opportunity he had to keep playing cricket, whether that's with Canterbury back home, or with Kent or Somerset or Derbyshire or Worcestershire in the English county circuit. In fact, he was the top wicket-taker in the Vitality Blast in 2023 - playing T20 cricket on perhaps the flattest pitch on earth, Taunton. This upskilling is the reason why he is keeping an all time great in Tim Southee out of the team. Henry isn't just a new-ball threat anymore.

And finally there's Jasprit Bumrah who does things that defy description (top for false responses and dot balls btw - 67 and 151). Put it this way. He's as good at cricket as this lady is at skating.

1 win in nine matches for India against New Zealand in ICC tournaments since 1992. This is across all formats (excluding bilateral Tests in the WTC but including the final from 2021)

That stat, influential as it is, will go up against another that is equally compelling.

India are playing this ICC tournament at home, and at home, their record against New Zealand is: 29 wins from 38 ODIs. That’s a win percentage of 76.

Tom Latham and his team might be rather more mindful of that second stat than the first. NZ maximise their strengths by reading the conditions quickly and adapting their game to suit it. That was never more apparent than when these two teams met in the first match of the 2016 T20 World Cup when NZ picked three spinners and dropped both Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

India have done well to populate their side with failsafes. They aren't reliant on their top order as much as they used to be. They aren't reliant on their spinners as much as they used to be. They have battle-hardened talent who will know a little better now about what options to take when the pressure is on. They began this campaign by recovering from 5 for 3.

Dominance is fine but resilience is how you win World Cups and both these teams are pretty well stocked for that. This is a clash of the titans and I get the pleasure of calling it for ESPNcricinfo. My name is Alagappan Muthu. Thank you for joining me.