Dharamshala: Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chosen to bowl first, making it the fifth consecutive game in which India will chase. Who would have thought that amid the sea of gigantic clashes – such as India vs Pakistan, India vs Australia, England vs New Zealand, South Africa vs England – India’s clash against New Zealand would be the one getting all the limelight. The clash of the table toppers – arguably the two best, and certainly unbeaten, sides of World Cup 2023, IND vs NZ promises to be a battle of equals and could provide the first real thriller of this tournament.
Hosts India, led by skipper Rohit Sharma, have been in excellent form at this year’s tournament, dominating all their opponents to record impressive victories so far. India have been arguably the most composed side at this year’s ICC World Cup, with both the batting and bowling units getting the job done for the Men in Blue.
New Zealand, on the other hand, started their campaign with a resounding victory over England in the tournament opener and have only gone from strength to strength since. Despite the absence of their skipper and arguably their most reliable middle-order batsman – Kane Williamson – the Kiwis have still managed to win all their matches convincingly.
In recent years, the rivalry between the two teams has been growing, with New Zealand knocking India out of the 2019 World Cup with a heartbreaking semi-final defeat and then beating them again to win the inaugural World Test Championship.
While India and New Zealand have both been victorious in 4 encounters so far and hold 8 points, the Kiwis top the ICC World Cup points table due to a superior net run rate of + 1.923 compared to + 1.659 for India. However, despite the lower net run rate if India can manage to win the key clash in Dharamshala, they will be the top side on the points table.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (w/k), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami
New Zealand Playing XI: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c/wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry
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