World Cup 2019: Twitter lauds Ravindra Jadeja for his heroic innings despite India's defeat to New Zealand

India's dream of winning the Cricket World Cup was shattered as they succumbed to an 18-run defeat against New Zealand. With this win, New-Zealand reached their second consecutive World Cup final while India were again defeated in the semi-finals after 2015.

In a rain-affected match which was played across two days, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch was tricky for the batsmen as the overcast conditions offered more spin and more bounce to the bowlers. Indian bowlers did their job as they restricted New-Zealand at 239 for 8 in 50 overs.

Chasing 240 in a bowling favourable pitch, India suffered a top-order collapse as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were dismissed early. The Men in Blue were suffering as they went 5/3 early in their innings. Even Dinesh Karthik tried to steady the ship along with Rishabh pant, but he faced the same fate after some time on the crease.

Hardik and Pant tried to turn their match in India's favour but both of them failed to convert their start into a big innings. It was Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni who gave Indian fans hope with their sensational partnership. Jadeja scored 77 while Dhoni scored 49 runs before they were dismissed. India's innings eventually ended at 221.

Virat Kohli stated that India enjoyed a perfect first half but poor shot selection led to their downfall. Speaking after the match, Kohli said:

"The first half, we were very, very good. We got what we needed at that point. We thought we had restricted New Zealand to a chaseable score but the way they come out with the ball was what made the difference."

"Jadeja had a really good couple of games and it's his performances that are a huge positive. New Zealand deserve it, they put us under more pressure."

The Indian skipper blamed the poor shot selection and hailed the calibre New-Zealand players.

"At times, I think our shot-selection could have been better. Really proud of the way we competed throughout the tournament."

"As I said, come the knockouts, New Zealand were braver than us and deserve to win."

Here's how Twitter reacted to Jadeja's valiant innings:

You are a true legend of the game @msdhoni, @imjadeja what a brilliant knock !!!! Sad that we a lost today but proud of our Indian Team - & many congratulations to team New Zealand on their win.

— Riteish Deshmukh (@Riteishd) July 10, 2019

It is convention to give the player of the match award to someone from the winning side. Matt Henry was fantastic today but the performance of the match came from Ravindra Jadeja. He is my player of the match.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) July 10, 2019

Jadeja reminds me of that kid from Nirma shuddh namak ad. Sab kaam main hi karun, batting bhi, bowling bhi, fielding bhi. #IndvsNZ

— Sagar (@sagarcasm) July 10, 2019

Lets take a moment to appreciate fighting innings from Jadeja & MS Dhoni! #INDvNZ #TeamIndia #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/pfqyotsvVn

— MS Dhoni Fans Official (@msdfansofficial) July 10, 2019

Hard luck #TeamIndia ! But we must also congratulate @imjadeja & @msdhoni for the fighting spirit shown in the #CCWorldCup2019 semifinal ! We were, are and will always be proud of you #TeamIndia !@cricketworldcup#INDvsNZ #INDvNZL

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) July 10, 2019

Tried every bit to collect the shattered pieces of our hope. Well played Sir Jadeja 👏👍🙏 #SirJadeja #CWC19 #INDvNZ #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/CDAhk6OKRf

— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) July 10, 2019

India did not bat well enough to reach the final. A resilient effort by Jadeja & Dhoni. They almost brought India back into the game. So a big upset, New Zealand goes through to final, India knocked out. #INDvsNZ #CWC19 #semifinal

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) July 10, 2019

Unbelievable effort to stage a fight back from 90 for 6!! Well done @msdhoni and @imjadeja 👏.. #ICCWorldCup2019

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) July 10, 2019

You win some and you lose some😅 well played Jadeja-And Dhoni 🙏

— SantoshSivanASC. ISC (@santoshsivan) July 10, 2019

Really proud the way our boys played, Rohit 4 his record breaking 5 centuries,Bumrah bein d spear head of our attack,Virat 4 leading us all d way till here. nd d young guns Pant, KL n also to Jadeja 4 d way he played today. Chin up boys , we are proud of u.🇮🇳 🇮🇳 #bleedblueforever

— Dhanush (@dhanushkraja) July 10, 2019

Well played Jadeja! 😉

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 10, 2019

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