India and New Zealand will play the World Test Championship (WTC) final in Southampton starting from June 18. Both India and New Zealand came up with excellent performances in the league stage to confirm their respective places in the WTC final. Over the years, New Zealand has defeated India in ICC events on more than one occasion. So, let’s look back at three such games which caused heartbreaks for India in the ICC tournament.Â
3. 2016 T20 World Cup in Nagpur
India was firm favorites to clinch the 2016 T20 World Cup. They were playing at home and had a strong batting and bowling lineup. MS Dhoni and his men came into the tournament on a seven-match winning streak. Everything went according to India’s plan in the first half. After winning the toss and batting first, Indian bowlers restricted New Zealand to just 126 for 7. Corey Anderson top-scored with 34 from New Zealand.
Chasing 127, Kiwi spinners spun India out in spectacular fashion as India was cleaned out for just 79. Nathan McCullum gave a great start to NZ and took two wickets, Santner ripped out the heart of India’s batting with four scalps, and Sodhi took three as well as the all-important wicket of Kohli. India ended up getting bowled out for just 79 and lost by a massive 47 runs.
2. 2000 ICC Knockout Final in Nairobi
Again, India were firm favourites to win the 2000 ICC Knockout final in Nairobi. They beat the powerful sides like Australia and South Africa in the league stage to reach finals. It was in this tournament that India discovered young talented gems like Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.
Sourav Ganguly batted first after losing the toss. Ganguly and Tendulkar added 141 for the opening stand 26.3 overs and should have set up a total of around 300, but Cairns, Scott Styris and Nathan Astle slowed things up in the middle overs and India failed to kick on and ended up scoring 264. In response, New Zealand were 135 for five at the halfway stage but Chris Harris joined Cairns and the foundations of an outstanding partnership were laid. They put on 122 runs for the sixth wicket., and took New Zealand to a memorable victory.
1. 2019 World Cup semi-final in Manchester
Once again India were favourites to win the tournament, coming with 7 wins out of 9 matches including 1 draw vs New Zealand in the league stage. All the players were in top form and looked like India will beat NZ comfortably and will play the finals one more time. But the New Zealand team had some other plans. India went in high on confidence only to return empty-handed and teary-eyed.
