22 October,2023 04:35 PM IST | Dharamsala | mid-day online correspondent
New Zealand`s Rachin Ravindra (L) celebrates with his teammate Daryl Mitchell after scoring a half-century (Pic: AFP)
Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell hit back in an attacking stand after New Zealand lost their openers early against fellow unbeaten India in Sunday's top-of-the-table ICC World Cup 2023 clash.
The left-handed Ravindra, who is of Indian origin, and Mitchell put on 81 runs to steer the Kiwis for 100-2 in 21 overs after being invited to bat first in the Himalayan hill town of Dharamsala.
New Zealand started slowly but Ravindra and Mitchell hit six fours and three sixes between them to take on the opposition attack. Fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami took down Devon Conway, for a duck, and Will Young, for 17, as New Zealand slipped to 19-2. Both teams have won four games each in the round-robin tournament but New Zealand top the 10-team table due to superior run-rate.
India, meanwhile, will be seeking revenge for the run-out from Martin Guptill in the 2019 World Cup semi-final 1566 days ago. Both teams are unbeaten after playing four games each, today one team's unbeaten run is bound to end.
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The Men in Blue have made two crucial changes as Suryakumar Yadav comes in for injured Hardik Pandya while Mohammed Shami is making his first appearance in the ongoing World Cup in place of Shardul Thakur.
"We'll bowl first. No reason, we were here training yesterday and felt a bit of dew comes in. Looks like a good pitch, we'll back ourselves to chase. Quite important to keep the momentum going, and forget what happened in the past. Need to be at it all the time. This is one place everyone wants to come and play, with beautiful weather and nice stadium. Hardik isn't available, so does Shardul. We've got Shami and Surya," Rohit Sharma said during the time of toss.
"We'd have bowled first as well. Looks a good surface, and we know the dew will come in. The important thing is whatever we do, we need to do well. We need to keep the momentum going. We are in a new ground, new conditions so need to adjust to these conditions as quickly as we can. We've got the same team for today - three seamers and two spinners," said New Zealand skipper Tom Latham.
(With inputs from agencies)
