Man of the moment in the 2015 cricket world cup semi-final Grant Elliott gives his take on the Black Caps historic win
The Chase television star Paul Sinha has tweeted his admiration for the Black Caps after they stunned India by 18 runs in the Cricket World Cup semifinal overnight.
Sinha, who is of Bengali descent, watched on closely as New Zealand took India to the sword in what would turn out to be one of the best finishes in a world cup knockout match.
Following the Black Caps' heroic efforts, Sinha praised Kane Williamson's men in a rather cheeky but appreciative manner, labelling them a group of "overperforming dicks".
"Hastily changing the title of next year's show for New Zealand to 'Couldn't you have just stuck to rugby you overperforming dicks?'
"Well played New Zealand. The cleverer and the mentally stronger team. And that catch!"
"The Sinnerman" was also left stunned at Jimmy Neesham's wonder catch to dismiss Dinesh Karthik, writing: "Oh my good god. Astonishing."
The Chase television star Paul Sinha has tweeted his admiration for the Black Caps after they stunned India by 18 runs in the Cricket World Cup semi-final overnight. Photo / Getty
Kiwis from around the globe weighed in on Sinha's take of New Zealand's performance, with many taking the opportunity to fire some lighthearted shots back at The Chase star.
"You need 148 runs with 4 wickets remaining from 19.3 overs ... your time starts now," one person quipped.
Another said: "You have beaten the chaser. You have not been caught" Ten pushbacks, all executed to perfection. If you want though Paul, we'll make you an honorary Kiwi for the day."
Kohli reveals how Black Caps' tactics won the semifinal:
Chasing 240 for a spot in the World Cup final should have been a simple task, but their lauded top order collapsed in remarkable fashion, first falling to 5-3, then slumping further to 24-4 after 10 overs.
Kohli – who made just one from six balls, as part of India's crumble – was left stunned, having gone into the change of innings extremely confident that India would be playing in the final at Lord's on Sunday.
"Chasing 240, we were very comfortable. We were confident that we can get the score," Kohli said.
"I think the game pretty much changed in those first 40 minutes when we were batting.
"When you lose [three wickets for five runs] it is very difficult to come back into the game. That first spell made all the difference."
Kohli didn't want to blame his batsmen for the shocking start – noting that he and quintuple Cup centurion Rohit Sharma had both received good deliveries, and praising the Black Caps' new ball pairing of Trent Boult and Matt Henry for producing a "perfect" start.
"New Zealand deserve a lot of credit because they put up a great display how to bowl with the new ball.
"They had perfect line and lengths and forced us to make errors, or bowled good deliveries to us so the pressure created was immense in those first 40 minutes.
"They did not provide any opportunities for us, for the first seven or eight overs we didn't get a ball to drive. So that shows the kind of control they bowled with - they put the fielders in the right positions and that was a perfect spell of fast bowling with the new ball, which put us under a lot of pressure."
After such a strong tournament up until today, it was a result that left Kohli heartbroken, but the skipper was also realistic that his side wasn't good enough when they needed to be.
"We played outstanding cricket throughout this tournament, and to just go out on the basis of 45 minutes of bad cricket is saddening and it breaks your heart.
"We are not shying away from accepting that we didn't stand up to the challenge and we were not good enough under pressure.
"We have to accept that - and accept the failure as it shows on the scoreboard."
