Daryl Mitchell's unbeaten 72-run knock aided by James Neesham's quickfire cameo of 27 runs off just 11 balls helped New Zealand defeat England by five wickets to enter the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing, New Zealand got off to the worst start possible as the side lost opening batter Martin Guptill (4) in the very first over bowled by Chris Woakes. The Kiwis were given a body blow in the third over as Woakes sent skipper Kane Williamson (5) back in the hut. After the end of the powerplay, New Zealand's score read 36/2.
Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell found run-scoring difficult and at the halfway mark, New Zealand's score read 58/2 with the side needing 109 runs to win from 60 balls. The 82-run stand for the third wicket was finally broken by Liam Livingstone as he had Conway (46) stumped at the hands of Buttler with New Zealand still needing 72 runs to win from 38 balls. Glenn Phillips (2) was the second wicket for Livingstone and England was in firm control with New Zealand at 107/4 in the 16th over.
In the 17th over bowled by Chris Jordon, James Neesham and Mitchell managed to score 23 runs, and the match swayed in favour of the Kiwis, with Williamson and team needing 34 to win from 18 balls. However, another twist came in the game as Adil Rashid sent Neesham (27) back to the pavilion, and New Zealand required 20 to win from 12 balls. In the end, Mitchell guided New Zealand to a five-wicket victory with six balls to spare.
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Earlier, Moeen Ali and Dawid Malan played knocks of 51 and 42 respectively as England scored 166/4 against New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Twitter users congratulated the Kiwis for reaching the final of the T20 World Cup.
"Brilliant stuff from @BLACKCAPS. They have qualified for the final in all 3 @ICC events: 2019 WC, 2021 WTC, & now #T20Worldcup. And please don't call this as NZ punching above their weight etc, it would be a disservice to this team that is as good if not better than most. #ENGvNZ," tweeted Wasim Jaffer.
"Best game of the World Cup. Wow Daryll Mitchell. Jimmy Neesham the gamechanger. New Zealand simply sensational. Congratulations on reaching the finals NZ #ENGvsNZ," wrote Virender Sehwag.
Check out the reactions below:
(With ANI inputs)
