New Zealand produced a remarkable bowling display and held their nerve under late pressure to inflict a stunning 18-run Cricket World Cup semi-final defeat on India at Old Trafford on Wednesday. India's top order collapsed as the Black Caps reached the showpiece match for the second World Cup running, leaving the dreams of Virat Kohli's side and their army of followers in tatters. Chasing 240 for a win, India were reduced to five for three wickets with skipper Virat Kohli and the two openers -- Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul -- out cheaply. A flurry of wickets in the closing overs saw Kohli's men dismissed for 221. (Video: ICC)
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The game changed in the first 40 minutes. New Zealand deserves a lot of credit because
00:23 they put up a great display of how to bowl with the new ball. They hit perfect line and
00:29 lengths and forced us to make errors if any or bowl good deliveries to us. The pressure
00:37 created was immense in those first 40-45 minutes. When you lose three wickets for six, it's
00:42 very difficult to come back into the game. Still, I think our effort was commendable.
00:47 That first spell made all the difference.
00:54 One bad day could have happened with any team. Top order played eight out of ten matches
01:00 well. Even the England match that India lost. Do you think there was one day you should
01:07 have expected the middle order to put their hands up? You and Rohit and Kale have done
01:12 the job for seven or eight matches. Are you disappointed?
01:17 You obviously feel bad for the result. Everyone goes out there to win the game for the team.
01:26 If it doesn't happen, you feel like you could have done things differently or look at things
01:31 in hindsight. That's why these games are called knockouts. If the opposition plays better,
01:37 you are out of the tournament suddenly. We have to accept that. We are sad but we are
01:44 not devastated because the kind of cricket we played in this tournament, we know where
01:50 we stood as a team. Today we were not good enough. That's the nature of this tournament.
01:55 A bad day at the knockout stage and you are out of the tournament. I don't think I would
02:01 like to break things down immediately. In time we will have to sit down and analyse
02:06 where we went wrong and what we could have done right in this game particularly.
02:10 At the halfway stage, you had 240 odd runs to get. What was the feeling in the camp?
02:18 The short selection could have been better at the top corner?
02:23 Rohit got a really good ball. I thought my ball was also decent. A couple of short selections
02:31 could have been better, which I already mentioned. Chasing 240 was very comfortable. We were
02:37 confident that we can get the score. A start is always important. As I said, New Zealand,
02:44 the way they bowled, did not provide any opportunities for us. I think for the first seven or eight
02:48 overs we didn't get a ball to drive. That shows the kind of control they bowled with.
02:55 They put the fielders in the right positions and there was a perfect spell of fast bowling
02:58 with the new ball, which really put us under a lot of pressure. As I said, we are not shying
03:03 away from accepting that we didn't stand up to the challenge and we are not good enough
03:07 under pressure. We have to accept that and accept the failure as it shows on the scoreboard.
03:14 The initial setback was there, but after that Hardik and Rishabh looked like they were settling
03:20 down. A little heartbroken with the shot that Rishabh played at that point in time?
03:25 He is an instinctive player and he did well to overcome that situation and string in a
03:31 partnership with Hardik. I think the way they played after loss of four wickets was quite
03:37 commendable. In hindsight, he is still young. I have made many errors when I was young in
03:44 my career. He will learn. He will look back and think, yes, he could have chosen a different
03:50 option in that situation maybe and he realises that already. All these guys have a lot of
03:55 pride and passion to play for the country and they are the ones who feel the most disappointed
03:59 when a mistake happens. On the outside, I know it looks like it was an error, but the
04:04 person who makes it, trust me, they are the ones who suffer the most with it. I am sure
04:08 he will reflect on it and he will come out stronger. The talent is there for everyone
04:12 to see and the character is there. But as I said, yes, a few shots, not just Rishabh,
04:18 but that happens in sport. You make errors, you make decisions which are not right at
04:22 that time and you have to accept it.
04:24 Virat, through the campaign, there were discussions in the media, I am sure you are aware about
04:29 Dhoni's strike rate. As a captain, was it a bit of a concern for you that perhaps the
04:36 lower order could have forced the pace more and could have collected runs faster?
04:42 It's always a safer option to look at it from outside and say maybe this could have happened.
04:49 But I think today he was batting with Jaddu and there was only Bhuvi to follow after,
04:54 so he had to hold one end together, in my opinion. And because Jaddu was playing so
04:57 well, you needed a solid partnership and to get a 100-end partnership from that situation,
05:02 I think it had to be the right balance of one guy holding an end and Jaddu playing the
05:06 way he did. I think his knock was outstanding. So, as I said, when you don't win, in hindsight,
05:12 a lot of things can reflect in different manners, but you have to understand how the game panned
05:16 out and till what stage did the game go. You would obviously expect New Zealand to fight
05:22 back at some stage because the target was steep after losing five, six wickets. But
05:27 the way they batted together, I think it was the perfect tempo for that situation, according
05:32 to me.
05:33 Can you explain the reasons why MS came so late in the order?
05:41 He has been given that role after the first few games of being in a situation where if
05:50 the situation is bad, he can control one end like he did today or if there is a scenario
05:55 where there are six, seven overs left, he can go and strike. So, that was the mindset
05:58 behind it.
05:59 Virat, regarding the batting in the middle overs, Mitchell Santner gave away only seven
06:08 runs in his first six overs and took two wickets. Do you think we could have played him a little
06:13 more aggressively?
06:14 I wasn't there out in the middle. So, again, it's very easy for me to say yes, we could
06:23 have or no, it was fine. But if I knew the pace of the wicket, what the ball is doing,
06:29 you looked at the scoreboard, the situation was such. So, we leave responsibility to the
06:34 two guys in the middle to make decisions because eventually as an individual you play one ball
06:39 at a time yourself and then you're talking with your partner. So, from the outside it's
06:43 very easy for us to analyse whether they should have or they shouldn't have. But it should
06:48 be left up to the individuals and they come up themselves and say maybe my decision wasn't
06:52 right. So, you have to accept that. That's how failures teach you and you improve in
06:58 sport like that. But you have to accept errors also. We're not denying any errors, but I'm
07:02 saying that only the guys who are in that situation. If I was in there and I played
07:07 in that manner, I would be able to tell you why. So, as I said, in hindsight, a lot of
07:13 things can be up for discussion, but you can never really assess from the outside whether
07:18 it should have been done or not.
07:20 How are you as a captain and as a player taking this whole disappointment?
07:28 Of course, very disappointed. We played outstanding cricket as I mentioned already throughout
07:36 this tournament and to just go out on the basis of 45 minutes of bad cricket is saddening
07:43 and it breaks your heart also because you've worked so hard throughout the tournament to
07:48 build momentum. You finish number one in the table and then a spell of bad cricket and
07:53 then you're out of the tournament completely. But you have to accept it. It's happened to
07:58 us before and we have all come out better cricketers because of these setbacks, especially
08:05 at a stage like the World Cup. But having said that, we have qualified till the semis
08:11 and we have played some really good cricket. So we should be also proud of the way we played
08:16 and look at the positives also because there were a lot throughout this tournament, especially
08:22 Rohit's performance was, I think, a standout performance and Jasprit with the ball and
08:26 Jadeja given the opportunity. So there are many things we can take back as positives.
08:32 Not having played that bad cricket and then, as I said, 40-45 minutes of bad cricket puts
08:38 you out. But as a sportsman you have to accept it that this is part and parcel of this game.
08:43 New Zealand are often seen as an understated side that snuck into the finals after three
08:52 losses. Did they surprise you today? And also how do you see them faring in the final against
09:00 either India or Australia?
09:05 I wasn't surprised at all with how New Zealand played, to be honest. If there's a low total
09:11 then we knew there's probably only one or two sides in world cricket that will put seven
09:17 fielders in the ring and that was always going to be one, it was going to be New Zealand.
09:20 So we knew they were going to attack more, they would not let the game go till the end,
09:25 won't take it deep, they'll just go all out and play the game that way because I've seen
09:31 them play that way. Today also third man was up in the ring and in a one-day game you had
09:35 five catching fielders. They know how to put pressure because they play very consistent
09:40 cricket and today was an example of that.
09:43 Your second question was who...
09:44 How do you see them faring in the final against either India or Australia?
09:49 It depends on the day. If conditions are good to bat then they'll have to bat really well.
09:54 If conditions are bowler-friendly and they put up enough runs on the board then they
09:58 become a dangerous side as you saw in this game. It's anyone's game, knockouts as you
10:02 saw today. Whoever plays well on that day wins. I wouldn't pick anyone as favourites,
10:07 the team has to play well to win.
10:09 Jadeja had this wonderfully cute celebration, 50 looking at Sanjay Manjarekha. How was you
10:18 reacting in the team? Did he go out? He seemed to be in tremendous mood the way he ran down
10:22 and hit a six. Did he say something before he went out to bat itself? There was a point
10:27 where the last three overs were left, 30 or something, you were sitting in the balcony
10:31 and you seemed to say 'ho jayega'. You were confident at that time, just when the ball
10:35 came. So Jadeja, the celebration and the last three overs.
10:39 I don't think any of us had to say anything to Jadeja after what happened over the last
10:45 one week. He was quite ready to just get on to the park to be honest. You saw the passion
10:51 with which he played. We've seen it in Test cricket a few times, he's played knocks under
10:56 tremendous pressure and he's got three triple hundreds in first class cricket if I'm not
11:00 wrong. So the talent's obviously always been there. In my watching Jadeja for 10 years,
11:09 me playing with him as well, this is probably his best knock according to me. The kind of
11:15 pressure, the stage we're at, almost out of the game and then he produces that. He was
11:19 very motivated. Yes, at that stage we all felt like in the change room the game can
11:25 be closed out, it can be done but then again, he played so well and then a mistake can happen
11:32 at any stage. I don't think it was even a mistake, it was just lack of execution which
11:36 in one day cricket you have to take a risk here and there. I'm really happy for him because
11:41 he's been a very understated cricketer but a top quality cricketer for India in the field
11:46 with the ball, with the bat, priceless. He's had a great, great game today.
11:51 Virat, 45 minutes of bad play ended the No. 1 team's campaign. So the knockouts, you think
12:02 there should be a constructive suggestion that it could be like playoffs, 1 and 2 and
12:05 3 and 4 like that?
12:08 Who knows in future, maybe. If topping the table means anything, I think these things
12:15 can come into consideration looking at the magnitude of this tournament. That's a really
12:20 valid point I guess. But you never know when that's going to be implemented. But I think
12:26 that's the challenge and different kind of fun of these games as well. You have to be
12:30 absolutely precise, it doesn't matter what you've done before that. It's a fresh day,
12:34 fresh start. And if you're not good enough, you go home. So you have to accept that. As
12:38 I said, it's a different challenge for all the teams to turn up on that day and be absolutely
12:43 at the top of their game. And whoever does that, they get the result as you saw today.
12:48 Virat, I think it was after the Pant wicket you went and told Shaz something. If you can
12:56 reveal what you said exactly. And the other thing was you seemed to be angry at your dismissal
13:02 in the knockouts that you've played. The points will come up that you have not scored. But
13:07 personally, how disappointing is it been for you? Not just this, but not having scored
13:11 that in the knockout matches in the World Tournament?
13:13 Yeah, it's very disappointing. Not turning up when the team wanted me to. Obviously,
13:20 it feels bad. Everyone gets disappointed when they get out. So it was a natural reaction.
13:27 With Ravi Bhai, I was discussing what happened and what's the plan going forward from that
13:32 situation. And what kind of information needs to be sent out there in the middle so we can
13:36 assess where the game needs to go. So yeah, these were the events that happened exactly.
13:43 The points will always come up. I'm ready for that.
13:45 When you said the plan, did you say from that moment onwards what was the plan?
13:51 I mean, the plan was to... we were targeting till what over should we have X score so we
13:58 can analyse where we stand after that and how many overs are left from bowlers and all
14:02 those kind of things. So we have a better idea what to say to the guys who are out there
14:05 in the middle. Because when you're having a partnership, I think after a stage you still
14:09 need a fresh sort of feedback from the dressing room to tell them this is where we need to
14:15 head in the next 10-12 overs. And then that eases off the pressure a little bit in my
14:19 opinion. So yeah, that was the discussion.
14:21 Virat Bhai, ahead of this, the Indian team is going to the West Indies. They have to
14:25 play in the tournament. So there's still speculation about what Mahendra Singh Dhoni
14:29 is going to do. Has he said anything? What will happen to you or the team? What will
14:33 happen to their future?
14:34 No sir, he hasn't said anything to us yet.
14:36 Thank you.
14:37 Virat, we saw in the entire tournament that a large number of Indian fans were coming
14:49 to the match and supporting them. After losing the match, they get disappointed but the
14:56 players are the ones who are most saddened. So to bring this sports culture to India,
15:01 how important is it for the fans to understand that making a hero and a zero is a mistake?
15:06 It's very important sir, if you talk from a sports culture point of view. That's why
15:13 I said that we should look at the positives of how we played cricket in this tournament.
15:19 It's very easy if you sit and say that he didn't do it or he couldn't do it. When you
15:24 are winning, you are being given a higher status. As a sportsman, you individually accept
15:29 that thing to what extent, it's in your hands. But when it's on a large scale, it becomes
15:36 a national responsibility for everyone. How you look at the sport and how you react
15:41 to the sport. I have always been in favour of this thing that even if you win, there
15:48 should be a measured reaction. And even if you lose, there is disappointment. But when
15:53 it becomes extreme, many players may not be able to process it. I think everything has
16:00 to be balanced. If you want to win a cricket game, you can only win it in a balanced way.
16:05 So I think from a fans point of view, what you said is absolutely right. If sports culture
16:12 is to make us stronger, we should be measured in winning or losing. That's my opinion.
16:19 Like we expect from cricketers. So what you said is right.
16:23 [Music]