Indian team captain Rohit Sharma accepted Sunil Gavaskar’s advice. He won the toss and decided to bat against New Zealand in the first semi-final of the current World Cup.
The match will start at 2:30 PM at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Today, both teams are entering the field with unchanged XI.
India is flying in style in the World Cup held at home. They were undefeated in all 9 matches of the league stage. Easy wins in all matches.
On the other hand, last season’s runner-up New Zealand has won the league stage in five matches this season. And lost against India, Australia, South Africa and Pakistan.
However, the pitch controversy has started even before the start of today’s match. British media Mail Online has already complained about changing the pre-determined pitch and selecting a separate 22 yard to give India an advantage. Apart from this, the Indian media Indian Express also said in another report that Rohit Sharma cut the grass of that pitch by force. Where the pitch slows down and can give extra advantage to the spinners.
But for now, both teams will focus on the field. The two teams have played a total of 117 ODI matches so far. Among them, India has 59 wins and New Zealand 50. And in seven matches there was no result. The remaining 1 match is a tie. According to this, India will be ahead in the semi match.
India XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj.
New Zealand XI: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (captain), Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
(November 15/NBW)