A game for the Kiwis

Well as expected, the New Zealand bowlers did a havoc on the Kenyan team by thrashing them by ten wickets to gain four wickets. This match would hardly go down as one of the greatest achievements in a world cup game though there are quite a few matches where a team has been able to win a match by ten wickets. South Africa in 2003 world cup is a good example to have done it twice against Kenya and Bangladesh before losing to West Indies, New Zealand and sharing points with Sri Lanka after the match was tied by D-L method.

One can hardly understand the importance of such games which can only play a spiolsport in a tournament such as a world cup where a rain can just divide points between the two teams despite possibilities going in for a strong team that has been awarded test status by the ICC. The entire game against New Zealand and Kenya lasted just above 30 overs which is less than a T20 game wherein 40 overs are found playing even in those matches featuring lesser rated teams like Kenya. To be exact, the game lasted just 31.5 overs. Of course, this was not the case in India's match against Bangladesh.

One can debate regarding the standards of Bangladesh and Kenya with the former being awarded the test status. But, as a matter of fact, Kenya beat Bangladesh in the 2003 world cup. But, though things have changed a lot since 2003, Kenya going down in standards in international cricket and Bangladesh constantly raising high in the same, the other side of the coin needs a consideration with India being a much better outfit compared to New Zealand. Still, the match was a below par one with expectations raising high for the Kenyan team since the 2003 world up and henceforth.

Kenya managed to make it to the semi-finals of the world cup in 2003 after registering wins against New Zealand (walkover), Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the league stages with a win against Zimbabwe in the super-sixes. That was more of a luck and this time it was as though New Zealand gave a double thrashing to Kenya keeping in mind what happened two world cups back. But, the match between the aforementioned teams is nothing but a mismatch with expectations being high from the Kenyan side. But, this is one of the games which New Zealand can win to reach the quarter-finals.