Rohit Sharma gets India off to rapid start at Wankhede

Rohit Sharma (Pic: AFP)

India vs New Zealand, ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final: India captain Rohit Sharma led from the front with a blistering 47 in the ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final against New Zealand in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Rohit, who won the toss at his Wankhede Stadium home ground, struck four fours and four sixes in just 29 balls.

But the 36-year-old, who has scored over 500 runs in the tournament, fell in sight of fifty when he skyed a drive off a Tim Southee cutter and was well caught by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, running back at mid-off. Rohit's exit left India 71-1 in the ninth over.

Three of the four previous tournament games at the Wankhede have been won by the team batting first, with the exception Australia's stunning defeat of Afghanistan, where Glenn Maxwell's remarkable 201 not out secured a three-wicket victory.

Both unbeaten tournament hosts India and New Zealand were unchanged. "It looks like a good pitch, on the slower side as well but whatever we do, we know we've got to do that well," said opening batsman Rohit at the toss.

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson added: "We would've had a bat first as well. It's obviously a used surface but we'll try to make use of it with the ball first up and hopefully there's some dew later." Before the game got underway, India cricket icon Tendulkar and former England football captain Beckham paraded the World Cup trophy.

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India's Virat Kohli needs one more century to set an outright new one-day international record of 50 hundreds after he drew level with retired former team-mate Sachin Tendulkar's mark of 49 against South Africa.

Notably, India won all nine of their pool matches, but were pushed hard by New Zealand during a four-wicket success in Dharamsala last month. New Zealand, by contrast, lost four games before qualifying for the knockout stages.

Exactly four years ago, the Black Caps defeated India in a World Cup semi-final in Manchester that spanned two days because of rain. India are bidding for a third one-day international World Cup title to add to their 1983 triumph in England and 2011 victory over Sri Lanka in a Wankhede final.

New Zealand, the finalists at the last two World Cups, have yet to lift the trophy. Wednesday's winners will face either five-time champions Australia or South Africa, who meet in Thursday's second semi-final in Kolkata, in an Ahmedabad final on Sunday.

(With agency inputs)