World Cup final tied, Super Over tied, a spirited campaign ended in a heartbreaking loss. The memories at the Mecca of Cricket in 2019 must-have flashed before every New Zealand player for the last four years, as every constituent except luck was in the Kiwis’ favour in the summit clash against England.

Four years is a long time, and especially post-2019 when the world battled a deadly virus that halted sports across the globe for more than a year, and also impacted cricket with use of saliva being banned from the game, the Kiwis had their eyes on winning one world title and they managed in red ball cricket by outclassing India to win the World Test championship in 2021. But the wound of 2019 was still very fresh in their heads.

Advertisement

Back on the field against the same opponents in the 2023 ICC World Cup opener, the Kiwis unleashed carnage at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to open their campaign with a commanding 9-wicket victory on Thursday.

The only dampener of the blockbuster clash was the empty seats at the 100,000 capacity stadium on a working Thursday.

What’s more special from New Zealand’s perspective was they went into game without the services of four frontline players, nursing their respective injuries. Kane Williamson, the regular skipper is recovering from an ACL injury, leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and pace spearhead Tim Southee recovering from finger injuries, and Lockie Ferguson down with a niggle.

After losing the toss, England skipper Jos Buttler said his team won’t be ‘defending’ the world title and instead emphasized on ‘attacking’ the title. However, in an anti-climax, the New Zealanders paid the Englishmen in their own coin, during their chase of 283, with opener Devon Conway (152 not out) and Rachin Ravindra (123 not out) slamming daddy centuries to propel the team home with more than 13 overs to spare.

More than the win, New Zealand’s clinical show was a statement that could morally hurt the Englishmen in their campaign.

New Zealand’s chase was initially affected when Sam Curran snared Will Young down the leg side for a first-ball duck but that was the only blip in their dominance. Thereafter, Conway and Ravindra stitched together an unbroken 273-run stand to record the fastest chase of a 250-plus target in World Cup history.

In the process, Conway broke Martin Guptill’s 88-ball record for the fastest 50-overs World Cup century, bringing his up in just 83, before Ravindra went one ball better to become the country’s youngest centurion in a global tournament at 23.

Earlier, the defending champions banked on Joe Root’s 77 stitched to post a competitive 282 for 9. The only high in the England innings was a 70-run partnership between Root and Buttler (43 off 42 balls), after Jonny Bairstow slammed a brisk 35-ball 33 to set the tone. However, England seemed to have once again faltered with their over dependence on aggression as the most of the batters fell to suicidal strokes.

For the Kiwis, Matt Henry was the pick of the bowlers, returning 3/48, while the spinners Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips chipped in with a couple of wickets apiece.