MUMBAI: India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss Wednesday and opted to bat first against New Zealand in the first of the Cricket World Cup 2023 semifinals.
The teams are known adversaries at this stage of the World Cup — it is a repeat first semifinal from 2019, when New Zealand beat India by 18 runs in a rain-affected game spanning two days at Manchester.
Like four years ago, India finished the league stage atop the standings. It won all nine games to finish with a perfect score of 18.
New Zealand, the runners-up in 2019, finished fourth after the first stage with five wins from nine games – winning its first four, then losing four on the bounce before a victory in its last game against Sri Lank confirmed qualification for the knockouts.
New Zealand retained the same XI from that win for the semifinal.
India has also fielded an unchanged lineup from its win over over the Netherlands on Sunday.
Virat Kohli tops the run charts in the World Cup with 594 runs in nine games, while 23-year-old Rachin Ravindra leads for New Zealand with 565.
Jasprit Bumrah , with 17 wickets from nine games, is India’s leading bowler in the tournament, although Mohammed Shami has also picked up 16 wickets in just five games.
Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner leads for the Black Caps with 16 wickets.
The toss can be vital factor at this venue. The average ODI scores at the Wankhede Stadium reflect as much – 248 (first innings) and 199 (second innings). The disparity across four games at this venue in this World Cup has been greater — 357-6 (first innings) and 188-9 (chasing).
The pitch for this match has been in the spotlight, with unconfirmed reports that the Indian team management requested the pitch used for Australia-Afghanistan game on Nov. 7, and not a fresh, unused wicket.
There is no grass cover on the pitch, yet it should aid the batsmen again.
The Arabian Sea breeze in the evening will decide the extent of swing on offer at the start of the second innings, and dew could also be a factor.
South Africa and Australia will contest the second semifinal at Kolkata on Thursday.
