On Wednesday, 15th November, India is facing New Zealand in yet another ODI World Cup semifinal. Last time it happened, in the most recent edition of the tournament in 2019, it ended in tears for not just the Indian fans, but also the coolest cricketer to ever play for India, MS Dhoni. In what turned out to be Dhoni’s swansong, he fell short by inches as Martin Guptill’s freakish direct hit ended Indian hopes of lifting the World Cup.
The two sides meet again at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai with India looking to exorcise those ghosts from July 2019 while New Zealand aim to create history of their own. Only once before has a side reached 5 World Cup semifinals in a row, England from 1975-1992 (they didn’t win any of those tournaments), and New Zealand is set to match them (they also have not won any World Cup during this run). New Zealand are also trying to reach their 3rd final in a row, matching the great West Indies team’s run from 1975-1983. Australia, as with all records World Cup, are on top with 4 consecutive World Cup final appearances from 1996-2007.
The two teams had a very different run to the semifinals. While India blew all before them spectacularly to end up with 9 wins out of 9, including the win over New Zealand, their semifinal opponent had a bit of a roller-coaster ride. New Zealand started the tournament in fine fashion winning their first 4 games easily, but then the defeat against India derailed their campaign a little bit. New Zealand went on to lose an iconic game against arch-rivals Australia, then lost comfortably to South Africa, and then a rain affected game against Pakistan was also lost. All that left New Zealand with a must win game against Sri Lanka in the last game which they eventually won comfortably, and coupled with Pakistan’s loss to England, they eventually made it to the semifinals comfortably.
The two teams have changed significantly since that semifinal clash in 2019 even though several stalwarts remain from that fateful encounter. Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Mohammed Siraj etc were all not part of the sides that clashed in Manchester over 4 years ago.
In this World Cup, India has looked unstoppable with every player from Number 1 to 11 looking in extremely good form. Their batsmen are scoring for fun while their bowlers have been unplayable. Twice in the tournament, against Sri Lanka and South Africa, Indian bowlers have knocked over the opposition on a 2 digit scores. So their confidence is sky high and they are the clear favourites to make their way through to the final.
For New Zealand, as always, there have been decent contributions from everyone here and there, though Latham’s form in the middle order may be a bit of a concern. However, they have had one standout performer this World Cup, and it is the Indian origin player Rachin Ravindra.
Rachin has been a revelation at the top of the order for New Zealand, and is only behind Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock in the run scoring charts for the tournament. He also has picked up 5 wickets in the tournament while keeping things fairly quiet in the middle overs, making him the most valuable player in this tournament.
Whether India manages to reverse the result of the 2019 semifinal and keep this juggernaut going on, or will New Zealand once again shatter Indian hearts, either way, this promises to be a mouthwatering semifinal.
