New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets to seal a spot in the semi-finals. The Kiwis’ opening combination of Devon Conway and Rachan Ravindra proved to be successful; when they produced a potent powerplay, the Blackcaps found it easy. Other than Angelo Mathews, none of the other bowlers have offered much.

Mitchell Santner’s spin web in the middle overs and Trent Boult’s opening surge helped New Zealand hammer Sri Lanka for just 171 runs. Given the conditions here in Bengaluru, it is still a fairly modest score even if Maheesh Theekshana had a useful cameo towards the end, attempting to form a partnership with lesser hitters to persuade them to bowl something in the second innings.

The 2019 finalists, New Zealand, won four of their five games in India before dropping the remaining four. However, they have the ability to turn things around, as seen by their performance in 2019, when they had a similar challenge to advance to the semifinals but managed to make it all the way to the final.

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