Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar shared a piece of advice for Rohit Sharma’s side ahead of their ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 semifinal against New Zealand at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
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India head into the knockout game against New Zealand after winning all nine group-stage fixtures of the ongoing 50-over tournament.
The hosts will be looking to avenge their disappointing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 semifinal defeat to the same opposition.
Sunil Gavaskar has advised Rohit Sharma to make the Black Caps chase in the high-octane match. The former cricketer, on an India sports channel’s show, said that India bowlers would make the situation tough for the Black Caps as they would get assistance while bowling under the lights.
“Well, if you have got a good bowling attack like India have, it does not really matter if they are bowling first or bowling second,” he said. “Clearly, if they are bowling second, it will help because we have seen under a little bit of dew that comes in, the ball flies to the wicketkeeper a little bit quicker.”
The legendary batter, shedding light on the importance of India’s spinners, said left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav can skid the ball more in the second innings. He said it would trouble New Zealand to chase and make them fall prey to the pressure of keeping the scoreboard ticking.
“So, it certainly will help the three new ball bowlers in the Indian line-up for sure, and it also helps a spinner like Kuldeep Yadav to get the ball to skid out of the surface also quicker. So yes, if India is defending a total bowling second, I do believe that will help also because there is scoreboard pressure, you might not be able to get 400 but 260 or 270, that will put pressure on New Zealand,” he said.
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