November 13 had a sense of emptiness. The kind of emptiness one generally associates with a day after Diwali where most continue to nurse the festive hangover and the same was felt at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai ahead of the big semi-final between India and New Zealand on Wednesday. The cleaners and other staff were operating at a leisurely pace and the same trickled down to the ground where New Zealand had assembled for a practice session under lights.
There was a long group chat, an extended game of foot volley, fielding drills before the deserted nets finally saw some action. The seamers started on a gingerly note before moving to full tilt and the batters did flex their muscles against both seam and spin. The highlight of the session, however, was seeing Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson bowl in tandem and pose a lot of questions to the batters.
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Unlikely to play but Jamieson looked impressive with his lengths and had nice shape going against the left-handers. All in all, it was a nice chilled-out session for the Black Caps where music in the background only accentuated the vibe.
Familiar territory
They are no stranger to knockouts in ICC competitions. Yes, there were few hiccups along the way in this edition but they have returned to familiar territory. A fifth 50-over World Cup semis berth on the trot and ninth overall.
Add to this the two final appearances which came in the last two editions. They have been one of the most consistent sides in ICC tournaments in last few years and bounced back from four consecutive defeats this time around to nose ahead of Pakistan and Afghanistan for last-four spot.
It was the group game against their semis opponent India which triggered the slide and they lost to Australia, South Africa and Pakistan to make the game against Sri Lanka a must-win one. The must-win was ticked and they are now set to face an opponent they got the better of in 2019 World Cup semis.
“Start from zero again”
Seamer Ferguson insists the team is not reading too much into the games which have happened and, like all teams, will “start from zero again”.
“Yeah, part of tournament cricket I guess and certainly World Cup cricket. Every team we play here is an exceptional team and have done their homework, done their scouting and we had a couple of close games I guess that didn’t quite go away and a rain affected one and I think that’s the joy of tournament cricket and nice to bounce back in our last round rubbing to find ourselves here but I guess from our point of view those nine games have got us to this position and we kind of all start from zero again. So come Wednesday, it’ll be a good challenge,” says Ferguson at a media interaction.
There is a good-looking zero next to India’s name in the points table as they have rolled over oppositions to make it 9/9 before the knockouts. The only team which probably did pose some challenge to the Men in Blue was New Zealand in Dharamsala as their batters did put the bowlers under the pump but a fine recovery with the ball and sensible approach in the chase ensured the Rohit Sharma-led unit notched up a “hard-fought” win.
“Yeah, look, it was a hard-fought game. I thought that has been extremely well, to get a great total on that. And of course, with one-day cricket and playing against India, there’s a lot of ebbs and flows. So, I think it’s not going to be any different come this game. We’ve just got to tighten up as much as we can. I guess can’t really provide much more information than that. But I guess just as I was saying earlier, just adjust to the wicket, see what we think will be a good score, and do our best to defend it. And if we bat first, try to put runs on the board, which we think will be a good score to do,” says Ferguson.
The toss factor
Toss is going to play a major role in the semis as the extra help for the quicks under lights and the sea breeze certainly makes batting difficult against the new ball in second innings. It was on display during India vs Sri Lanka and also during the Australia vs Afghanistan game where the Afghans had Aussies on the mat before a freak Glenn Maxwell innings saw them home. Ferguson admits it will be “nice to bowl under lights” but adds they have plans for both situations.
“Yeah, look, I think the stats are probably favouring batting first, but at the same time it’s A – not up to me, and B – we have to play the game on the day. So, whatever it might be, battle ball first. We’ve got plans for that. And it’s important to stick to them. Obviously, nice to bowl under lights and always from a bowling point of view. Nice to see when the ball does move around a bit and brings us into the game. We’ll just have to play it as we see it come game day, but I’m looking forward to it,” says Ferguson.
Come Wednesday, the streets will be back to life and there will not be an empty seat in the stands when these two quality sides square off against each other. Even while starting at zero, NZ are certainly a different beast in the knockouts and Rohit Sharma & Co. would need a strong all-round show to stick to the unbeaten feeling – a familiar zone for the Men in Blue this edition.
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