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Watch: Fans react to India’s defeat to New Zealand in World Cup semi-final

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India’s World Cup dream ended in the cruelest way possible, and the cameras caught every second of the heartbreak.

On July 10, 2019, India’s bid for a third Cricket World Cup title collapsed at Old Trafford in Manchester, where New Zealand held on for an 18-run win in a rain-delayed semi-final that spilled over into a reserve day. Fans who had traveled thousands of miles and packed pubs and living rooms back home watched a top order implosion turn a tournament favorite into a team scrambling for survival. The video captures those reactions in real time — disbelief, tears, and a few defiant chants even as the scoreboard turned against them.

• New Zealand posted 239/8 across two days, built on half-centuries from Kane Williamson (67) and Ross Taylor (74).
• India slumped to 5/3 and then 24/4 as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul were all dismissed for just one run apiece against the opening burst of Matt Henry (3/37) and Trent Boult.
• A 116-run stand between Ravindra Jadeja (77 off 59) and MS Dhoni (50 off 72) nearly pulled off the chase before Dhoni was run out by a direct hit from Martin Guptill, and India folded for 221 in 49.3 overs.

A Collapse Nobody Saw Coming

India entered the knockout stage as the tournament’s most consistent side, but Henry and Boult made a mockery of that reputation inside the first hour. Rohit Sharma, the leading run-scorer of the whole World Cup, was gone for one. Kohli followed for one. KL Rahul made it a hat-trick of single-run dismissals, and suddenly the chase of 239 looked like a lost cause at 24/4. By the time Jadeja walked out to join Dhoni, India were 92/6 and staring at elimination.

What followed was the only reason the match went the distance. Jadeja, batting with nothing to lose, launched into New Zealand’s bowlers for 77 off 59 balls, while Dhoni anchored the other end on his way to 50 off 72. The pair added 116 for the seventh wicket, briefly making a run-chase that had looked dead feel very much alive again for the millions watching back home.

The Run-Out That Broke a Billion Hearts

Jadeja fell going for a big shot, and Dhoni — India’s most trusted finisher in exactly these situations — was run out attempting the winning runs in the 49th over. Martin Guptill’s direct hit from deep square leg ended the chase and, with it, India’s tournament. All out for 221 in 49.3 overs, the margin read 18 runs, but for a fan base that had built its hopes around this exact kind of finish, it felt far bigger than the numbers suggested.

“45 minutes of bad cricket puts you out of the tournament.”

That was Virat Kohli’s blunt post-match assessment, referring to the top-order collapse that put India in a hole no amount of Jadeja-Dhoni heroics could fully climb out of. Kohli also took a moment to thank the traveling Indian support that had followed the team throughout the campaign, a fan base whose scale and devotion rivals the kind of buildup you see around a Super Bowl weekend — except this one ended in stunned silence instead of a trophy lift.

Scenes Outside the Ground and Back Home

Footage compiled by Hindustan Times and broadcast media showed fans outside Old Trafford and gathered around screens across India processing the loss in real time — some in tears, others simply staring in disbelief as Guptill’s throw hit the stumps. The clips captured in the video swing between grief over the collapse and genuine appreciation for what Jadeja and Dhoni nearly pulled off, a mix of emotions that summed up how the whole match unfolded.

The reaction footage is a reminder of how much weight this fan base carries into every knockout game, the same way viral crowd reaction clips tend to spread once a big moment lands — the kind of content that regularly turns up in the Trending Sports conversation the day after.

New Zealand moved on to face England in the final at Lord’s, while India flew home to a semi-final exit that will be remembered less for the scoreline than for those 116 runs Jadeja and Dhoni conjured out of nowhere — and the throw from Guptill that ended it a heartbeat too soon.