New Zealand’s discipline and dedication posed a stiff challenge for India. But thanks to Mohammed Shami (5/54) and Virat Kohli (95), they overcame that challenge in the form of a hard-fought four-wicket win in Dharamsala on Sunday to regain the spot in the standings.

With five wins out of five games so far, things are certainly falling into place for India in this World Cup and it’s just the start that skipper Rohit Sharma, who once again took his team off to a flier in pursuit of a tricky 274-run target, had hoped for.

For sure, Kohli regaining his rhythm and flow augurs massively well for the team as his 104-ball knock against the Black Caps attack was integral to India overhauling New Zealand’s 273 after the visitors were put into bat. But equally crucial was Rohit’s 40-ball 46, which set the tempo for India.

That said, the man who actually turned it around for India was Shami (replacing Shardul Thakur), who stood up in his very first appearance of this World Cup. In the absence of Hardik Pandya, who’s nursing an injured ankle, India’s balance certainly got affected with Kuldeep Yadav’s bowling figures (2/73) making it a little more prominent. Had Pandya been there, Rohit may not have had to bowl Kuldeep his full quota of overs.

However, Shami delivered just when his team needed him to.

Rachin Ravindra (75), cashing in after an unexpected let-off from Jadeja at point when he had scored only 12, and Daryl Mitchell (130) had made India pay as New Zealand looked well on course to reaching 300 during the duo’s 159-run stand for the third wicket.

Misfortune hit Shami earlier when Ravindra got that reprieve, but he did have his man in the 34th over by taking a little bit of pace off the ball.

Shami knew his job wasn’t over, while thanks to Mitchell, New Zealand too were well placed at 243/4 in the 45th over and eyeing a perfect finish. And that’s when he came to the party once again.

Despite being off-colour, Kuldeep induced a mishit off Glenn Phillips and thereafter, it was all Shami.

Being fast and targeting the stumps with just a bit of movement, courtesy his seam positioning, Shami removed Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry and Mitchell. That was significant in shifting the momentum towards India.

Another 20-25 runs could well have made a big difference given New Zealand’s wonderful showing in the outfield, which did put pressure back on India till Kohli and Jadeja bailed them out with the 78-run sixth-wicket stand.

Conditions obviously became a little easier for the batsmen in the second session owing to the dew, while there was mist as well that held up play for a few minutes when India’s run chase was in its 16th over. But Rohit, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and even Jadeja were helped by the loose stuff that New Zealand bowlers, especially Lockie Ferguson, dished out at regular intervals.

Santner’s accurate left-arm spin was able to dismiss KL Rahul’s for the very first time in this World Cup, while his magnificent close-in fielding resulted in Suryakumar Yadav’s departure. From 182/3 in the 33rd over, India had slipped to 191/5 in over No.34 and were under serious pressure.

Even a well-set Kohli looked a bit perturbed then. But Ferguson, just as he had allowed Iyer some easy boundaries, bowled to Jadeja’s strength and gave away two boundaries that eased the pressure on the hosts.

Extra pace is considered to be Ferguson’s asset. He even gave his team the double breakthrough by accounting for Rohit and Shubman Gill in successive overs. But he was erratic and lacked control, which turned out to be a big difference between Shami and him.

Stand-in captain Tom Latham, who had earlier dropped Rohit off Santner’s bowling, took the gamble of bringing part-timer Phillips on to the attack instead of any of the other regular bowlers.

Kohli greeted Phillips with a pull for four and following that seven-run over, India steadily put New Zealand out of the contest with strike rotation and fine running between the wickets.

Back to his zero unforced error-mode, Kohli, like he did in the previous game against Bangladesh, was well on his way to bringing up his 49th ODI ton, till mistiming one and holing out at the deep off Henry’s bowling.

Kohli fell short of his 49th ODI hundred by just five runs, but it’s not something he would mind. Neither would Team India.

“Good start to the tournament, but the job is still half done,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.