Men’s ODI WC: New Zealand have learnt their lessons from India defeat, need to tighten their game

Mumbai: In the nine matches that India won in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023, New Zealand were the only team that ran them close.

After India won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala, New Zealand were bowled out for 273 thanks to a 127-ball 130 by Daryl Mitchell.

In response, India were propelled by a patient 95 by former India captain Virat Kohli and important contributions by Rohit Sharma (46) and Ravindra Jadeja (39 not out) to reach 274/6 in 48 overs and won the match by four wickets.

From that game, New Zealand have learned their lessons and have to tighten their game and do their best, said pace bowler Lockie Ferguson, ahead of the India v New Zealand semifinal clash at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.

“Yeah, look, it was a hard-fought game. I thought that has been extremely well, to get a great total on that. And of course, with one-day cricket and playing against India, there are a lot of ebbs and flows. So, I think it’s not going to be any different come this game. We’ve just got to tighten up as much as we can. I guess can’t really provide much more information than that. But I guess just as I was saying earlier, just adjust to the wicket, see what we think will be a good score, and do our best to defend it. And if we bat first, try to put runs on the board, which we think will be a good score to do,” Ferguson said in a pre-game press conference on Monday.

Ferguson said they have been playing some great cricket and is looking forward to the semifinal clash.

“Yeah, look, firstly it’s obviously a big pleasure to be part of the finals. I know the team is very excited to get underway in a couple of days and obviously to play at this ground, I’ve had a few games here and It’s a pretty spectacular crowd. So, from our point of view, we’ve been playing some great cricket. I’m looking forward to getting underway in a couple of days,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said New Zealand will miss pace bowler Matt Henry but said their bowling unit still looks good.

“I think we look good here. Matt Henry is obviously a big hole in our side and we’re still a handsome bunch without Matt Henry. So, I guess I’ll take that on the chin, but now from a cricket point of view Tim Southee brings a lot of experience obviously being captain of the Test team, captain in T20s and one day too, so I think that experience counts for a lot. He’s also played a lot in India, which is great too, obviously pretty disheartened with how Matt Henry exited the World Cup, which was such a shame. We know injuries always come at the worst time, but no doubt he’ll be supporting from back home and Tim Southee is raring to go. So once again, looking forward to it,” said Ferguson.

–IANS