Keeping a billion hopes alive, the undefeated Indian team has stormed into the finals of the World Cup. Breaking the jinx against their nemesis New Zealand, Men in Blue emerged victorious in a high scoring game at the Wankhede stadium. After 2 back to back world cup semifinal failures in 2015 and 2019 World Cups, the team managed to break the semi-final curse which haunted them for around a decade. With the victory against New Zealand, Men in Blue reach in the finals after a whopping 12 years and are in the hunt for their 3rd title.

Skipper Rohit has led the team exceptionally well, and is fully focused on bringing the trophy back home. And likewise he is playing every time he gets a chance to step on the field. His fearless approach becomes a fearsome one for the opponents, and it sets the tone for a good total for the team. The rest batters then capitalise the situation extremely well, with Virat Kohli anchoring one end of the crease, and others extending their arms to reach to an excellent total. And then the magical bowling lineup of India pull display their class and outclass the opponents. It's been the story of world cup for most of the matches, and it happened yesterday as well.

The high voltage semifinal between the two most successful teams from the past 4 world cups, is feared by Indian fans owing to the previous history attached to it. But unbothered by these, Rohit Sharma took on the Kiwi bowlers which prevented the team from a regular Boult and Southee scare. The aggressive approach by the Indian skipper put the Blackcaps on the back foot immediately, and seeing their prime bowlers punished brutally, the confidence of the team was diminished right in the powerplay itself. Rohit's wicket did hamper the run rate for a brief moment, but he had done his job of threatening the Kiwis beautifully.

And then came the most greatest batter of modern era, Virat Kohli. Known for batting longer hours, he anchored the innings from one end elegantly. Initially batting with young gun Gill and then with Shreyas, Kohli took his time before getting a free hand, which he utilised to reach to his 50th century, thereby breaking Sachin Tendulkar's record of most centuries in his presence at his home ground Wankhede Stadium. In process when he slowed down a bit, Shreyas Iyer shifted gears quickly and his towering sixes showed Kiwis the Mumbai sky often. Iyer's masterclass against spin yielded him his 2nd century in the world cup, and the result of all these was a mammoth total of 397 runs against the Men in Black.

A daunting total needed the Kiwi batters to fire. But instead it was sensational Shami who dismissed both the inform openers quickly back to the pavilion. Skipper Williamson and Mitchell took some time before playing with the asking run rate to give a billion people scare. The duo soaked the pressure and played a gem of an innings before Kane was dismissed by Shami, who also got Latham in just the 2nd ball after the Kane dismissal. Mitchell kept going harder along with Phillips, but the asking run rate was way higher and both of them eventually succumbed to the Indian bowling lineup. Still scoring a good 300+, the Kiwis gave a tough time to India , who went on to win the match comfortably, thereby storming into the finals.

An unbelievable 7-fer by Shami made him the Indian bowler to reach best figures in an ODI match, surpassing Binny and Ashish Nehra with 6 wickets each. Along with it, he took his tally of world cup wickets to more than 50, ending up at 54 by the end of the game. He also become the most successful Indian bowler in ODI World cup history. The record of Rohit Sharma of hitting most sixes in single edition of world cup, also hitting most sixes in an year, along with Shami's record and Kohli' history rewriting record made the victory even sweeter for Indian. But apart from these records, more important was the fact that India broke the jinx of Newzealand encounters and also broke the curse of semifinals of the ICC World cups, entering into their last assignment to rule the world yet again.

As the hunt for 3rd title continues for India, a billion hopeful hearts now look forward to 19th November. And so does the skipper and coach, who both haven't been a part of any ODI world cup winning teams. But as they say, when you miss few, you realise the importance of it and then want to win it even more badly than earlier, similarly has been the case with the duo of captain coach, who have worked extremely hard to change the mindset of the team. The team environment, the change of mindset after 2022 T20 world cup fate, the backing of right players have all worked greatly in their favour. And in the past three months, they have got what they missed from the entire year, the support of a billion fans. A great team, with a great coach supported by a billion fans dream to be the greatest on 19th November, and we pray to see them joyous, happy and victorious.