MANCHESTER: New Zealand clinched a stunning 18-win against India in a dramatic World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Chasing 240 for victory, India were bowled out for 221 in 49.3 overs.

Here, AFP Sport looks at three things we learned from the Black Caps' epic upset:

Demolition man Henry

New Zealand's bowlers accepted the challenge of defending their modest total of 239-8 with a truly sublime display that left India's World Cup dreams in tatters.

Pacemen Matt Henry was the destroyer in chief to bring India to their knees on 24-4 after 10 overs, with key men Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli dismissed for a single apiece.

Henry snapped Sharma's record run of form that included five centuries in a single edition of the World Cup to get the opener caught behind in his first over.

Veteran Trent Boult was also breathing fire and silenced a large Indian crowd to trap Kohli lbw on a delivery that swung back sharply from the left-arm quick.

Henry returned figures of 3-37 from his 10 overs as Mitchell Santner also provided able support to the paceman with his left-arm spin.

Santner got rising star Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya as he dried up the flow of runs in the middle overs.

Jadeja comes up just short

Ravindra Jadeja joined MS Dhoni with India tottering at 92 for six and almost dragged his side to victory with defiant effort that fell just short.

Veteran Dhoni was his usual calm self, but it was Jadeja's attacking 77 from 59 balls that gave India renewed hope just as the game was slipping away.

Called a 'bits and pieces' player by cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar in a recent interview, Jadeja gave the chase fresh life with some clean hitting.

The left-handed Jadeja, who only played his first World Cup game in India's last group outing against Sri Lanka, reached his fifty in 39 balls.

He celebrated with his customary sword dance, came halfway down the ground and raised both his hands.

Jadeja, who also returned figures of 1-34 with his left-arm spin, put on a 116-run stand with Dhoni.

But he finally perished to Trent Boult going for one more big hit as India bowed out in stunning style.

New Zealand lean on Williamson, Taylor

Kane Williamson walked into bat when New Zealand were 1-1 after 3.3 overs with the Indian fast bowlers making the ball swing and seam in overcast conditions.

But the ice-cool Williamson played a couple of singles to settle down and punched Bhuvneshwar Kumar straight down the ground for just the second boundary of innings.

He ploughed his way through with his old-school batting, alongside Henry Nicholls, as the right and left-handed combination kept the scoreboard ticking on a tough pitch for batting.

It has largely been New Zealand's story in this World Cup with Williamson often left picking up the pieces and building the innings.

Middle-order batsman Ross Taylor has been Williamson's partner on several occasions and once again put up his hand up to deliver.

He put on 65 runs with Williamson for the third wicket and then took on the challenge alone, eventually top-scoring with 74 after the skipper's departure for 67.

Those runs proved priceless as New Zealand's bowlers took over with a scintillating display that caught India completely off-guard. —AFP