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New Zealand pace bowler Trent Boult is extremely excited with the prospect of facing India in the first semifinal of the ongoing World Cup. Though it is still not confirmed, the top four are more or less set after the Kiwis’ thumping win over Sri Lanka that saw their net run-rate soar to 0.743, way beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan’s reach.
While Afghanistan are facing South Africa on Friday, Pakistan will be locking horns against England in their respective final league stage matches and face an improbable scenario to go past New Zealand’s NRR now. This confirms that India will be taking on their nemesis New Zealand in the semifinal at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Boult who picked three wickets to derail Sri Lanka in Bengaluru is looking forward to play against the red-hot Indian side that has not lost a single game in eight outings in this World Cup yet. “They (India) are playing a positive style of cricket and I suppose playing shots does present chances. But we’re going to be very clear with how we’re going to tackle that game,” he said in the post-match press conference.
For the unversed, New Zealand defeated India in the semifinal of 2019 World Cup by 18 runs with the encounter being the last of MS Dhoni’s illustrious career as well. However, when the two teams locked horns earlier in the tournament, India managed to win against the Kiwis by four wickets.
“I think there’ll be a lot of excitement and the prospect of that challenge … as I said it doesn’t get any bigger than taking on India in front of 1.5 billion people. Yeah, it’s very exciting. To come up against the host nation, a team that’s red hot, playing good cricket – you couldn’t script it any better,” Boult added. “We’ve played India a lot of times. Quality players know these conditions very well. History suggests it’s a good wicket (at Wankhede) and, yeah, nice to have come up against them in Dharamsala,” the left-arm pacer further said.
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