Kerikeri, City in the North Island, New Zealand

Pakistan Army spokesperson Asif Ghafoor on Wednesday congratulated the New Zealand cricket team on defeating India in the semi-final match of the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in England."Congrats Team New Zealand. A scintillating win to reach ICC WC Final. Team reflected spirit and sportsmanship carried from a great nation with moral values. @jacindaardern @BLACKCAPS #ValuesMatter #SurpriseByNZ," Ghafoor tweeted.[{be50a659-ca6f-4897-a473-5fb2eca9f0bb:intradmin/asif.JPG}]Pakistan failed to leave a mark in the World Cup as the side was unable to reach the knock-out stages. The team finished at the fifth position in the group stage with just 11 points from nine matches.The team lost their first match against West Indies by a whopping margin and since then, Pakistan's net run-rate suffered and the side was playing catch-up cricket since then.If England had lost their matches against India and New Zealand, then Pakistan would have gone through to the semi-final. But England ended up winning their matches and this put Pakistan under a lot of pressure.Pakistan had to defeat Bangladesh by more than 315-run margin to go through to the knock-out stage. But it just managed to score 318 runs against Bangladesh and they were not able to restrict the team to under seven runs to progress ahead in the tournament.The Green Shirts ended up winning the match but their hopes of going ahead were dashed.Before the Pakistan-Bangladesh match, skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed had said that the side would look to score 500 runs against Bangladesh and this statement created a lot of laughs on Twitter."We have to be realistic, but we will try to score 500 runs against Bangladesh. We have to score 500 runs and try to bowl out Bangladesh for 50. We will try to win the match," he had said.In pursuit of 240, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul all scored just one run and this is the first time in the history of cricket that the first three batsmen of any team were dismissed for one run each.Sharma and Rahul were dismissed by Mark Henry whereas Kohli was sent back to the pavilion by Trent Boult. Their dismissals restricted to India to 5/3. Dinesh Karthik (6) also failed to leave a mark and his dismissal pegged India back at 24/4.Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya stitched together a partnership of 47 runs but their resistance ended as Pant (32) was sent back to the pavilion by Mitchell Santner. Pandya also departed after playing a knock of 32 runs as he was dismissed by Santner.Earlier, the tail-enders dragged New Zealand to post 239 for the loss of eight against India in the first semi-final of the Cricket World Cup at Old Trafford on Wednesday.Picking up from where they left a day after rain halted the match, New Zealand added 28 runs to the scoreboard to finish their 50-over quota.For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of bowlers as he returned with three wickets in his 10 overs quota and gave away just 43 runs.( With inputs from ANI )

KerikeriFOLLOW

Kerikeri, Latest News

With India losing a close encounter against New Zealand in the first semi-final of the 2019 World Cup in England on Wednesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president C.K. Khanna congratulated the team for putting up a spirited dis ...

Before the India-New Zealand semi-final clash, all the cricket pundits, including former spinner Daniel Vettori, believed that the only way Black Caps could have won against the Men in Blue was to play aggressive cricket in the first 10 overs, both w ...

While on one hand, former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar termed M.S. Dhoni as an "absolute legend" following India's defeat to New Zealand in the semifinals of the ongoing World Cup, a minister in Imran Khan's government stooped to new low saying ...

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar believes India's was a great fightback, courtesy M.S. Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja despite their top-order collapse as the Men in Blue fell just short of crossing the line against New Zealand in the first semi-fin ...

ICC on Wednesday approved Mathew Wade as a replacement of injured Usman Khawaja in the Australian squad for the remainder of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. ...

Twitterverse lost its cool on Wednesday after former India captain MS Dhoni seemed to get teary-eyed after getting dismissed in the penultimate over in the semi-final against New Zealand in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. ...

Indian cricket team physiotherapist Patrick Farhat wished the team and thanked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their support on his last day at work, after India's 18-run loss to New Zealand in the semifinal here on Wednesday. ...

Pakistan Army spokesperson Asif Ghafoor on Wednesday congratulated the New Zealand cricket team on defeating India in the semi-final match of the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in England. ...