T20 World Cup 2022: New Zealand has once again continued its impressive performance in the ICC tournament in the T20 World Cup 2022 being played in Australia. In their final match of Super 12, the Kiwis defeated Ireland by 35 runs to almost book the first seat in the semi-finals. The Kane Williamson-led side will remain at the top of Group 1, probably due to their excellent net run-rate. Captain Kane Williamson played a brilliant innings of 61 runs for New Zealand in this match. After that the bowlers did their job and gave the team an easy win.
After winning the toss in this match, Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie decided to bowl first. New Zealand got off to a slow start playing first. But after that Finn Allen took the lead and scored 32 runs in a hurry. After this, captain Williamson took one end and played a brilliant innings of 61 runs in 35 balls which included 5 fours and three sixes. In the end, Ireland's bowlers, especially Joshua Little, performed brilliantly taking a hat-trick and gave three blows to the Kiwis back to back on 174 itself. He took three wickets for 22 runs in 4 overs.
Irish team faltering after a good start
Ireland had started well and experienced batsman Paul Stirling and captain Andrew Balbirnie broke the sweat of the Kiwi team. In 7 overs, the team's score was 68 runs without any loss. After this the team lost 3 wickets within 5 runs. As soon as Santner came, Balbirnie (30) was dismissed in his first over and Ish Sodhi also dismissed Sterling (37) in the first over itself. After this Ireland's innings could not be sustained. Soon half the team got out on 102. In the end, thanks to Fergus 3, Sodhi-Senter and Southee 2-2, Ireland could score 150 for 9 and the Kiwis won the match.
semi-final equation
Kiwi team has played all 5 matches of Super 12, out of which it has 7 points after 3 wins, one defeat and one no result. The team is at the top and has a net run rate of +2.113. Officially New Zealand has not yet reached the semi-finals but the net run rates of England and Australia are +0.547 and -0.304 respectively which is much less than New Zealand. Now if both these teams register a miraculous victory in their last match, then New Zealand may be out. Otherwise the Kiwi team is almost certain to reach the last 4.