IND vs NZ semi-final preview: Kohli & co eye ticket to Lord's at Manchester

New Zealand's 'achilles heel' has been their batting while India have an untested middle order. The Manchester forecast predicts light showers with skies likely to remain cloudy throughout the day

A formidable Indian top-order, led by tournament top-scorer Rohit Sharma, will be taking fresh guard in its quest for two good days but a plucky New Zealand seam attack will be ready and waiting to knock at the corridor of uncertainty in the ICC World Cup 2019 semi-final at the Old Trafford, Manchester on Tuesday.

It has been a campaign in which Virat Kohli's men have been successfully able to hide their chinks even without a suitable 'Plan B' but it now boils down to having two days and they don't have an option of letting the script go awry.

A near flawless campaign could come to a naught against a gutsy Black Caps side which has always asked probing questions in ICC tournaments.

In semi-finals, India have a 3-3 record from their six appearances while New Zealand have won just one of their seven matches. 

To India's comfort, New Zealand's tournament has gone on a downward spiral during their last three games but their initial good work helped them beat Pakistan to a last four spot.

But it couldn't have been more enticing that Rohit (647), KL Rahul (360) and Virat Kohli (442) with a cumulative contribution of 1347 runs will meet their match in Ferguson (17 wickets), Boult (15 wickets) and Matt Henry (10 wickets), who have shared 42 wickets between them.

'Law of averages' can be a worry for India simply because the top-order hasn't had a failure as such, even the loss against England saw Rohit and Kohli score runs.

The midde-order hasn't yet faced a '30 for 3 day' in the competition and Boult's first spell under a cloudy Manchester sky could unsettle the best in the business.

Also save Hardik Pandya, the other middle-order batsmen haven't inspired the highest confidence and that includes Dhoni despite his 293 runs and a 90 plus strike-rate.

He has scored runs on some tricky wickets but he would be certainly hoping for a lot more against the Black Caps.

New Zealand's 'achilles heel' has been their batting as none from their top-order, save Williamson (481 runs), have been able to stamp their authority. New Zealand's poor batting is reflected from the fact that save Williamson, the only other top-order player to have crossed an aggregate of 250 runs is Ross Taylor (261).

In terms of batting, they are no match for India where a much criticised Dhoni has also scored near 300 runs.

India will fancy batting first, but if conditions change, they might look to bowl first. However, there could be some changes in the line-up as number of right-handers in the New Zealand line-up may prompt India to drop one of the two wrist spinners.

Yuzvendra Chahal, according to Kohli, was a forced change in the last game and it's still not clear whether there's been an injury issue. Ravindra Jadeja was accurate in his first appearance and he could be in consideration.

In case India go in with three seamers, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, then Kedar Jadhav, with his round-arm off-spin apart from cheeky strokes, could once again replace Dinesh Karthik in the middle-order.

In the end, on a knock-out day, Kohli wouldn't mind an inside edge to miss stumps or go for a boundary when batting and enjoy the benefits of a horrible mix-up between opposition batsmen while fielding. That's the slice of luck everyone needs apart from the 99 percent effort on a big day.

India vs New Zealand head-to-head in World Cup

Total matches- 8

won by India-3

won by  New Zealand-4

Abandoned/Tied-1

India vs New Zealand playng 11 prediction

India playing 11: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik/Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.

New Zealand playing 11: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls/Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

ICC World Cup 2019, Semi-final 1: India vs New Zealand streaming details

Date and Day: July 9, 2019, Tuesday.

Place: Old Trafford, Manchester 

Time: 3:00 pm IST, 10:00 am local time

The World Cup 2019 India vs New Zealand match live streaming will be available live on Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 with English Commentary and Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD with Hindi Commentary. The live streaming of the World Cup 2019 India vs New Zealand will be available on Hotstar.

Conditions

The forecast says light showers are likely with skies likely to remain cloudy throughout the day. Teams batting first have won each of the five games played at Old Trafford in World Cup 2019. Both Kohli and Williamson would look to win toss and bat first.

Squads

India World Cup squad: 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 World Cup squad: 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