Last Update on: November 15th, 2023 at 12:22 pm
India is all set to face New Zealand in the Semi-Finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and they will be looking to avenge the heart-wrenching defeat they suffered in the 2019 World Cup semi-finals against the Kiwis. The ICC has shared a video of Indian star batter Virat Kohli practicing in the nets ahead of the semi-finals. Virat Kohli was seen having some intense net sessions where he was middling the ball pretty well and hopefully, he will be able to do that in the semi-finals against New Zealand.
Virat Kohli is the top run-getter in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 with 594 runs in nine innings with a staggering average of 99 having two centuries and five half-centuries to his name. Kohli scored 95 against New Zealand when the two teams met at the league stage of the tournament, helping India to defeat New Zealand in ICC events after twenty years.
Virat Kohli could be seen middling the ball pretty well in the nets, in the video shared by ICC captioned, “The middle of Virat Kohli’s bat”, Kohli doesn’t have a very good record in the World Cup semi-finals. He scored 9 0ff 21 in the 2011 semi-finals, 1 off 13 in the 2015 semi-finals, and 1 off 6 in the 2019 semi-finals. This time around he has an opportunity to break the curse and also score his 50th ODI hundred.
Watch- Virat Kohli Breaking A Sweat In Nets Ahead Of Semi-Final Clash
Virat Kohli needs only 80 runs to beat Sachin Tendulkar’s record of scoring the most runs in a single edition of the World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar scored 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup and Virat is already on 594 runs with potentially two matches left if India reaches the finals of the World Cup. Virat can also create history if he scores a hundred in this match to become the first-ever batter to score 50 centuries in ODI cricket.
India and New Zealand will face each other in the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup for the second consecutive time. The 2019 World Cup saw the Blackcaps defeating the Men In Blue in a thrilling encounter and India will be looking to avenge that heart-wrenching loss this time around. With the support of the home crowd in familiar conditions, India is really looking for a win against New Zealand but the Kiwis will not be an easy target.
