It will be a clash of the two best teams when India take on New Zealand in the 21st match of the ongoing ODI World Cup in Dharamsala on Sunday.
The 21st match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup brings together the two teams with still perfect records in the tournament when India takes on New Zealand in Dharamsala on Sunday. India have already picked up wins against Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with New Zealand having so far beaten 2019 champions England, the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Read on as we preview this day-night game. The match will begin at 2:00 pm local time at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
As hosts of the competition, India will be under a lot of pressure at the 2023 Cricket World Cup, but expectations have been met so far. This will be another tough battle but we reckon Rohit Sharma's side will have more than enough to beat the Black Caps.
New Zealand recovered from the loss of three wickets for one run, falling from 109-1 to 110-4 in the first innings of the match against Afghanistan, but showed it has plenty of batting depth with Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips and Mark Chapman high. They won't have to fear India in this game.
Match Preview
India will face New Zealand in the 21st match of the Cricket World Cup at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on October 22. Both teams have fought their way out of the tournament so far and have won all four games and are ranked first and second in the rankings. This match will likely decide who remains top of the table.
India took on Bangladesh in their final match, with Bangladesh winning the toss and electing to bat. After choosing to bat, they went for a flyer with both openers scoring half-centuries each. Several wickets fell at regular intervals after the openings fell. The pair of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah took the team to a total of 256 runs. After another confident start from Rohit and Gill, Kohli took the lead by scoring another century and leading the team to an easy win by seven wickets.
New Zealand faced Afghanistan in their final game, with Afghanistan winning the toss and electing to field. After a good start from the front group, the middle order stumbled a bit, improving from 109-1 to 110-4, but the experience of Latham and Phillips came to their aid as they took charge and a strong total score of 288 reached at a slow pitch. Afghanistan were never in the running as they kept losing wickets right from the start. Few of their batters made it to the start but none of them could consolidate and hence lost the match by a huge margin of 149 runs.
Pitch Report
The pitch at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium is especially helpful for the batters. Pacers may enjoy some seam and swing movement here, which can cause problems for the batters while allowing them to play their shots freely after spending a few balls on the ground. Teams that win the toss elect to bowl, with the average score in the first innings being 253.
Toss Prediction
The last two matches at this venue in the 2023 Cricket World Cup were won by the team that batted first, so we expect the captains of both teams to choose to bat first in this match.
Head to Head
Both teams have faced each other in 116 ODIs so far. India have a slight lead with 58 wins while New Zealand have 50 wins against their name. 1 game ended in a draw while 6 had no result.
Match Prediction
Going into Saturday's games, these two teams have a four-point lead over their pursuers, which shows how well they have done so far. New Zealand always seem to overperform at World Cups, but the reality is that they are a very consistent team with world-class players in their squad. India also have the strength in depth, but probably play with more flair and try to entertain the crowd a little more. But that shouldn't matter in this game, because the result is the most important thing! We predict a very close competition but are confident that India will be the stronger team and continue their 100 per cent record.
India beat New Zealand
Venue Details
The average score for batting first after 7 ODIs at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium is just 203. However, England posted a record of 364-9 at the start of the tournament here, showing that the batting teams can post a high score here , if they prevail. The average number of runs per over at the venue is 5.14. The team batting first should try to set a target of around 280-300 runs.
Weather Report
Compared to some of the other games we have seen in this competition, it will be much cooler in this game with cloudy skies and a high of 17 degrees forecast. There is also a slight chance of rain.
Betting Tips
India and New Zealand are two of the strongest teams in this tournament and the only ones who have not been defeated yet, making this game very difficult to decide. However, we believe that India has a slight edge in this competition. Most of the team's players are in good form and batting technique in particular was a strength. However, the Black Caps will certainly give the hosts a tough time in the middle.
Rohit Sharma - with an average of 66.25 in the 2023 World Cup so far, ahead of Saturday's games, only Mohammad Rizwan has scored more runs than India's captain. Sharma hit another seven fours and two sixes on Thursday.
Virat Kohli - it was a player of the match performance from the right-hander against Bangladesh, finishing the game with a six and a tally of 103 off 97 balls.
Jasprit Bumrah - the right-arm fast bowler - dismissed two experienced players in Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim in the last game. He comes into this game with a strike rate of 22.20 in this competition.
Ravindra Jadeja – the bowling all-rounder is one of the most consistent players in world cricket, regardless of the format. He has conceded 38 runs in each of the last three games and picked up two wickets in the last two games.
New Zealand Key Players
Devon Conway - The 32-year-old hasn't hit a half-century in any of his last three innings but has still contributed 97 runs in those games. He plays with controlled aggression at the top.
Daryl Mitchell - the in-form batting all-rounder had a rare bad day in the 16th match in Chennai where he faced seven balls and scored just one run. However, with an ODI average of 48.45, we expect big runs again in this game.
Trent Boult – the opening bowler was exceptional in the last game, posting figures of 2-18 from 7 overs. He is equally comfortable bowling around the wicket or over the wicket but remains just as dangerous as he has been in previous World Cups.
Mitchell Santner – the bowling all-rounder added three more wickets and scored a first over in the win over Afghanistan. He averages a wicket every 20.54 balls in the tournament.
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