ICC World Cup 2019 | Lucky to Manage Direct Hit: Guptill on Dhoni Dismissal

It was seen as the final nail in the coffin for India when Martin Guptill ran out the veteran MS Dhoni with a brilliant piece of fielding in the 49th over of the first semifinal at Old Trafford. Guptill however sees it as a lucky break for him and New Zealand in the situation.

After that run out, India's hopes of making it to the final at Lord's on Sunday (July 14) were over on Wednesday. The two-time champions were eliminated at this stage for the second World Cup running when they went down by 18 runs against the the losing finalists from 2015.

"I did not think the ball was actually coming to me, I tried to get there as soon as I could. Once I got hold of the ball, I thought it was actually quite straight. Lucky enough to get a direct hit from out there, lucky for us he was out of his ground," Guptill said in a short video uploaded by the ICC on their Twitter handle.

"Lucky enough to get a direct hit from out there" – New Zealand's @Martyguptill on his ⚡ ️throw to dismiss MS Dhoni in the #CWC19 semi-final against India. #BackTheBlackCaps pic.twitter.com/GnerDahQgQ

— ICC (@ICC) July 11, 2019

Guptil had a below-par World Cup with the bat before effecting the incredible run-out of Dhoni, which somewhat redeemed his campaign.

It was that moment of brilliance which tilted the game completely in New Zealand's favour with Dhoni getting out on 50 off 72 balls.

Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja shared an 116-run stand for the seventh wicket to give India a fighting chance after a top-order collapse left them reeling at 24 for four.