India Claim Top Spot with Hard-Fought Win Over New Zealand

India had significant challenges because to the discipline and determination of New Zealand. However, they overcome that obstacle with a hard-fought four-wicket victory in Dharamsala on Sunday to reclaim the top place in the rankings, mostly because to Mohammed Shami (5/54) and Virat Kohli (95).

India's World Cup campaign is off to a great start with to five victories from their first five games, and captain Rohit Sharma, who once again put his side on the map by leading them to a difficult 274-run target, had high expectations for this tournament.

Undoubtedly, the squad will benefit greatly from Kohli finding his rhythm and flow again, as his 104-ball toss against the Black Caps attack was crucial to India's 273 after the visitors were sent in to bat. However, Rohit's 40-ball 46, which established the tone for India, was just as significant.

However, it was Shami (who replaced Shardul Thakur) who stepped up in his very first World Cup match and ultimately turned things around for India. India's balance suffered in Hardik Pandya's absence while he recovers from an ankle injury; Kuldeep Yadav's bowling statistics (2/73) made this a bit more apparent. Rohit may not have needed to bowl Kuldeep his whole allotted overs if Pandya had been there.

But Shami came through for his team when they needed him to.

After Jadeja gave a surprising let-off at point when he had only scored 12, Rachin Ravindra (75) and Daryl Mitchell (130) made India pay, and during their 159-run partnership for the third wicket, New Zealand seemed to be well on track to surpass 300.

When Ravindra received that reprieve, Shami was struck with misfortune earlier, but he did have his man in the 34th over when he took a little speed off the ball.

Thanks to Mitchell, Shami knew his work was not done, and New Zealand was also in a strong position at 243/4 in the 45th over, looking for a flawless finish. And that's when he returned to the celebration.

Even though Kuldeep was acting inappropriately, he managed to get Glenn Phillips to mishit, and from then on it was all Shami.

Thanks to his seam placement and quickness, Shami dismissed Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, and Mitchell by aiming slightly towards the stumps. That had a big impact on the momentum changing in favor of India.

Given New Zealand's outstanding outfield performance, which did put pressure back on India until Kohli and Jadeja saved them with a 78-run sixth-wicket partnership, another 20–25 runs may have made a significant difference.

The dew made things a bit easier for the batters in the second session, and there was also mist that caused play to be stopped briefly when India was in its sixteenth over of the run chase. But the loose stuff that New Zealand bowlers, particularly Lockie Ferguson, often threw out aided Rohit, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and even Jadeja.

For the first time in this World Cup, Santner's precise left-arm spin was able to remove KL Rahul, and his superb close-in fielding caused Suryakumar Yadav to leave. India was under severe strain after falling to 191/5 in over No. 34 from 182/3 in the 33rd over.

Even the composed Kohli seemed a little upset at the time. However, Ferguson bowled to Jadeja's power and handed up two boundaries that relieved the strain on the hosts, shortly after he had given Iyer some simple boundaries.

Ferguson's advantage is said to be his extra speed. Even more, he handed his side a double breakthrough by removing Shubman Gill and Rohit in consecutive overs. But the main difference between him and Shami turned out to be that he was unpredictable and uncontrollable.

Tom Latham, the acting captain, decided to take a risk by starting part-time bowler Phillips on the attack rather than any of the other regular bowlers after dropping Rohit off Santner's bowling earlier.

After Kohli welcomed Phillips with a pull for four, India used excellent running between the wickets and strike rotation to gradually eliminate New Zealand from the game. That over lasted seven runs.

Like in the previous match against Bangladesh, Kohli was well on his way to reaching his 49th ODI century until mistiming one and holing out to the deep off Henry's bowling. This put him back in his zero unforced mistake zone.

Kohli would not worry that he was only five runs shy of his 49th ODI century. Team India wouldn't either.

"It's a good start to the tournament, but there's still work to be done," Rohit said after the game.