The New Zealand cricket team made it to the final for the first time by defeating South Africa in the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup played at their home in 2015 and it was because of Grant Elliott who played a brilliant inning.
Image Credit source: AFP Photo
New Delhi: Every player wants to leave his mark in the world of cricket. An impression that the world will remember for a long time. Many players do this. Some players play brilliantly in their entire career, create records, while some are such that they are remembered for a long time due to one or two performances. New Zealand Grant Elliot is included in these second-class cricketers. Elliot’s international career is almost nine years old, but this player is remembered for one of his innings. Eliot’s talk because today is his birthday.
His innings had taken New Zealand to a point where it had never reached before. Elliot played an unbeaten 84 against South Africa in the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup played in 2015 and took New Zealand to the final. This was the first time that the New Zealand team stepped into the final of the ODI World Cup.
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Wounded the country in which he was born
Eliot was born in the year 1979 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He later came to New Zealand and started playing cricket from here. In the semi-final match played on March 24, Eliot played such an innings against his motherland, due to which the whole of South Africa was deeply shocked. Had South Africa won this match, it would have reached the final for the first time, but Eliot dashed his hopes. South African players cried a lot after this defeat.
As far as the match is concerned, South Africa scored 281 runs after losing five wickets while batting first. New Zealand achieved this target by losing six wickets on the fifth ball of the 43rd over. For South Africa, Faf du Plessis scored 82 and captain AB de Villiers scored 65 not out. Apart from Eliot for New Zealand, captain Brendon McCullum scored 59, Corey Anderson scored 58 runs. Eliot faced 73 balls in his innings and played a brilliant inning with the help of seven fours, three sixes.
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one shot left a mark
Eliot gave victory to his team by hitting a six off Dale Steyn on the fifth ball of the 43rd over. He hit this six over long on. The mark of this six is still present in the Eden Park Stadium in Auckland. Actually, this victory was very special and historic for New Zealand, so to keep the memory of the six with which Eliot gave his team this historic victory, Eden The park management has done a special job. On the six that Eliot had hit, this ball hit a chair in the stands. The management of the stadium has got this chair painted differently from the rest. The rest of the chairs in this stadium are of gray colour, but the chair on which this ball hit has been painted green.