As New Zealand prepare to face India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 semi-final at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on November 15, it’s impossible not to look at the parallels with 2019, says the former Kiwi captain Ross Taylor in this particular column
Four years ago, when India were heading into the semi-finals of the tournament in Manchester as the in-form side of the tournament, we were more focused on making sure our net run rate did not keep Pakistan from reaching the final spot in the top four. This time India are even bigger favorites as they played very well at home and in the group stage.
But New Zealand teams can be dangerous when we have nothing to lose. If there is one team that India will be nervous about, it will be the New Zealand side.
Of course, we are against this, but this was also the case in 2019. This was a two-day, one-day match. It was weird for me, I wasn’t out overnight. That’s frustrating enough in Test cricket, let alone a one-dayer and a World Cup semi-final.
I would say the crowd at Old Trafford was probably around 80 per cent Indian, some New Zealand friends and family and some English.
We had to defend ourselves in this match. South Africa had scored 300 there so most commentators thought we were crazy because we were scoring quite slowly, but Kane Williamson and I were confident that 240-250 would be a competitive total.
news source (www.nationalheraldindia.com)
