Last Update on: November 10th, 2023 at 08:41 am
Trent Boult starred with the ball as New Zealand ended their four-match losing streak with an impressive victory over Sri Lanka on Thursday (November 9) in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
The left-arm pacer rocked Sri Lanka’s middle-order by taking three wickets in quick time to put his team on top. The Islanders just could not recover from the setbacks and were bowled out for a modest total of 171. In reply, New Zealand chased down the total with ease. They crossed the finishing line in the 24th over by losing 5 wickets.
The win has all but secured New Zealand’s passage to the semifinals. While Pakistan and Afghanistan can match New Zealand’s point tally by winning their last league games, the Black Caps are looking destined to make it to the last four because of their superior net run-rate. Pakistan need to win by 287 runs or win in three overs after bowling England out for 100 for a place in the semifinals. Afghanistan’s chances are more slimmer.
Trent Boult on facing Team India:
The win over Sri Lanka has set a potential clash with high-flying hosts India for New Zealand. With New Zealand likely to finish at the fourth spot, they will be taking on Team India in the semifinals and look to make it to the final for the third time in a row. And ahead of the highly-anticipated clash, Trent Boult has has expressed his excitement over facing India.
“I can’t speak on what they’re thinking but from our point of view to play World Cup in India and to come up against the host nation a team that’s red hot playing good cricket at a great ground – you couldn’t script it any better,” Trent Boult said at the post-match press conference.
“So excited if that happens, I feel like we’ve done all we can from our point of view and yeah, we’ll just wait and see what happens,” he added.
While India are yet to lose a game in the ongoing tournament, Trent Boult is hopeful that the pressure of semifinals could help New Zealand. India have struggled to win the knockout games in ICC competitions in recent years and lost at the semifinal stage in the last two editions of the World Cup,
“Very, very good players, but pressure does things to the best of players at any time. So just look forward to taking that on,” said the pacer. “They’re playing a positive style of cricket and yeah, I suppose playing shots does present chances – but yeah, we’re going to be very clear with how we’re going to tackle that game, if it happens, it still has to be ticked off.
“But, yeah, I think there’ll be a lot of excitement and the prospect of that challenge and like I said it doesn’t get any bigger than taking on India in front of 1.5 billion people,” he added.
