Mumbai: When the World Cup got underway on October 5 last month, what were the odds that one of the semifinals would feature a repeat of last year’s knockout. India vs New Zealand. No one, especially if you’re an Indian cricket fan, can forget the night of July 10, 2019, when with a heartbreaking run-out of MS Dhoni, which also marked the great man’s last international appearance, India’s marauding World Cup campaign came to a screeching halt.
They were the toppers at the conclusion of the league stage, having lost just the one game – to England – but as unfair as it was, India came short on the reserve day as ’40 minutes of bad cricket’ sent them crashing out. It was a blow to the gut and even Virat Kohli couldn’t hide his emotions in the press conference.
Four years later, as fate would have it, the two teams are back taking center-stage at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. And for both India and New Zealand, it’s an opportunity to lay their World Cup demons to rest. Like India, New Zealand haven’t won a World Cup either, and even though they have one additional ICC title in their trophy cabinet – the World Test Championship – the BlackCaps have a huge monkey on their back too. Finalists in 2015 and 2019 World Cup, semi-finalists in the last two editions of the T20 World Cup, the Kiwis want to end this hoodoo of their own.
