India lost to New Zealand in the first semi-final against the run of play in the ICC world cup. New Zealand's confidence was at its lowest with three consecutive defeats prior to this match. In contrast, the Indian team had a roller coaster ride with wins and a solitary questionable defeat against England. India were the favourites, but BBC has pointed out that India had the stars, but New Zealand had the team. In sum that made the difference and broke the hearts of a billion people. Despite some heroics by Rajendra Jadeja, India lost by 18 runs.

Kohli and yodelling

As the match progressed, commercials were showing the Indian players cavorting and dancing before the cameras. This jarred against the run of play especially as India was losing and their top three batsmen -Rohit Sharam, Virat Kohli, and Rahul contributed just three runs. Just as Kohli got out for1, a TV commercial was shown with the Indian skipper yodelling away in an ad for Google music. It jarred the senses, and many who watched felt whether Cricket was the priority of the Indian skipper. The yodelling TV advertisement was a poor advertisement for the Indian skipper.

Inept batting

New Zealand entered the semi-final low on confidence but still managed 239 for 8.

Skipper Kevin Williamson played an excellent inning of 67, but a score of 239 was not supposed to tax the fabled Indian batting. The crowd which had a large number of Indian supporters were now witnessing 30 minutes of inept batting. Rohit Sharma who had already established a world record with five centuries failed - caught behind for 1.

The match was streamed live by HotStar.

The skipper entered with a swagger, but he was out LBW for just one run. He asked for a review, but the TV umpire ruled him out. He went back followed soon by Rahul caught in the slips. Within 30 minutes the fabled Indian batting was in tatters — all credit to the New Zealand pace attack led by Boult.

Kevin Williamson marshalled his resources better than Kohli who in the opinion of many erred by sending in MS Dhoni at no 7. Yahoo News has reported that the Board is not enthused with the exit of the Indian team and both Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri will face tough questioning back home.

Bits and pieces player

Rajendra Jadeja who had been ridiculed as a "bits and pieces player" by the former Indian test cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had to eat crow as he launched into the New Zealand attack with a sterling inning of 77 with four sixes. Veteran Dhoni held up one end, but many blamed him for a tardy run rate as he failed to accelerate.

Dhoni was perhaps playing his last international match, but there is no doubt despite the 50 runs he took the momentum away from an Indian win.

There was an upset in the other semi-final also as England coasted to a facile victory over Australia by eight wickets. The Aussies played below their potential, but the English team played well to enter the final after 27 years.

Glorious uncertainty

Australia and India were the top teams in the league games, but cricket is a game of glorious uncertainty, and at the crucial moment both sides just faded away. India will go back with unhappy memories. Despite being the best team, they failed when it mattered most. Kohli will have to assess his captaincy and batting as he was unable to hit a hundred in the tournament and on several occasions he seemed to be restricted in his stroke play.
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