Ten down, one to go. All that remains for India’s World Cup finalists is to turn it up to 11 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. But this was at least a game that ran almost to the end as Daryl Mitchell played the innings of his life in Mumbai, a luminous feat of stamina, invention and muscular orthodox hitting as New Zealand chased hard in pursuit of 397 but still fell 70 short.
And so India roll on to a final that has always seemed to be the endgame in this most home of home World Cups. Perhaps when the International Cricket Council has finished looking into Team India’s role in pitch selection at this tournament it could also launch an investigation into the preternatural run-scoring appetite of Virat Kohli and the jagging, snaking craft of Mohammed Shami, who ended with a seven-wicket haul here to go with two previous five-fers. Not to mention the feeling through those 10 consecutive wins of a gathering inevitability to India’s march back to its new cricket-industrial power centre in Gujarat.
