Twitter Reactions: Kohli masterclass; Iyer, Rohit blitzes take India to a mammoth total at Wankhede

India and New Zealand faced off in the first semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After winning the toss, Indian captain Rohit Sharma chose to bat first and opened the innings in style with Shubman Gill against New Zealand's Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

Rohit made an aggressive start, scoring a flurry of boundaries and sixes to take India to 60 runs in just seven overs. However, he was dismissed in the ninth over after scoring 47 runs off 29 balls. Virat Kohli then joined Gill at the crease, and together they continued to dominate the Kiwi bowlers. Gill retired hurt after scoring 79 runs off 65 balls, while Kohli went on to score a century, his 50th in ODIs. Kohli got out after scoring 117 in 113 balls with nine fours and two sixes.

Kohli's achievement was celebrated with a standing ovation as Sachin Tendulkar looked on from the stands. Interestingly enough, after Team India's innings finished, while speaking on his memorable ton, Kohli revealed that the 'God of Cricket' met him personally and congratulated him on eclipsing his long-standing feat.

"It's stuff of dreams, Anushka was sitting right there, Sachin paaji was there in the stands. I mean, it's very difficult for me to explain this, but if I could paint the perfect picture, I would want this to be the picture. My life partner, the person I love the most, she's sitting there. My hero, he's sitting there. And I was able to get the 50th in front of all of them and all these fans at Wankhede as well, such a historic venue. It was amazing," Kohli said during a post-innings interview.

"I said it in Kolkata, the great man (Sachin Tendulkar) just congratulated me, all this feels like a dream for me, honestly. It's too good to be true, feels surreal, I never thought I'll be here ever in my career. Just to help the team so many times, again, a big game today, I had to kind of play the role I've played throughout the tournament so that the guys around me can go and express themselves. Just glad that everything came together so nicely and we put up a great total on the board as well," Kohli concluded.

Meanwhile, coming back to batters of Team India performing well, Shreyas Iyer joined Kohli at the crease after Gill's injury and went on to score an explosive century. Notably,  this was Iyer's third ton in the ongoing tournament. He scored 105 in 70 balls with four fours and eight sixes while KL Rahul contributed a quick 20-ball 39 towards the end, helping India reach a formidable 397 in their 50 overs. For Kiwis, Tim Southee took three wickets but gave 100 runs in his ten overs.

New Zealand faces the daunting task of chasing down this massive target against India's formidable bowling lineup led by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, and Kuldeep Yadav. It will be interesting to see how the Kiwis approach this challenging run chase.

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