Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli’s India started the T20 World Cup as favourites, but their semi-final hopes are hanging by a thread. Photo: ICC Media Zone.

Cricket World Cup LIVE: SF1 India vs New Zealand commentary

Can Virat Kohli lead India to victory in the Cricket World Cup semi-final or will captain courageous Kane Williamson of New Zealand win the day.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli’s India started the T20 World Cup as favourites, but their semi-final hopes are hanging by a thread. Photo: ICC Media Zone.

Cricket World Cup semi-final overview

Indian have been plagued by injuries but have topped the Cricket World Cup league stage points table with seven wins from eight completed games.

Rohit Sharma has been at his fluent best already scoring five centuries and his new opening partner Lokesh Rahul has put up scores of 77 and 111 in his last two innings.

The bowling attack too, led by the ever reliable Jasprit Bumrah has been delivering on a consistent basis. Virat Kohli will have some interesting decisions to make in the bowling department, as he seeks a perfect combination for an all important clash on Tuesday.

The 2015 runners-up New Zealand, have had a mixed campaign so far. Powered by some collective bowling performances and led by their skipper Kane Williamson with the bat, the BlackCaps had notched up five wins from their first six games which included a complete washout against India. However, three successive losses thereafter saw them slipping to the fourth position, as they qualified for the semi-finals by virtue of a superior net run-rate. New Zealand will hope for a strong performance from their opener Martin Guptill, who hasn’t been able to put up a significant score ever since his team’s opening game against Sri Lanka.

Kohli has been a consistent performer in this World Cup, having scored 442 runs in eight innings so far. However, he’s yet to register a three-figure score in the tournament. A high pressure game such as a World Cup semi-final, presents a perfect opportunity for Kohli to put up another match-winning performance for India.

Trent Boult has been leading the New Zealand bowling attack with 15 wickets from eight games. Boult, who had powered his team to a six-wicket win with figures of 4/33 in the warm-up game against India, will look to produce a similar performance to put his team in a commanding position.

Conditions

Skies are likely to remain cloudy throughout the day, with chances of some odd light showers. Teams batting first have won each of the five games played at Old Trafford in this tournament and considering the nature of the contest, both captains will look to bat first.

Cricket World Cup Squads

India: Virat Kohli (c), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), Tom Blundell (wk), Mitchell Santner, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Colin Munro, Ish Sodhi, Henry Nicholls, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Jimmy Neesham

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