Ahead of the World Cup semifinal between India and New Zealand, Rahul Dravid and co. inspect the Wankhede pitch. ‘Green Patches’ Are Seen. Shortly after arriving in Mumbai on Monday afternoon, India’s coaching staff set to work in preparation for their World Cup semifinal matchup against New Zealand, hoping to maintain a spotless record.
The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium, where the home team and title favorites, the India, would face the formidable but rusty Kiwis on Wednesday, was inspected by head coach Rahul Dravid, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, and fielding coach T Dilip.
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Unbeaten India did not practice on Monday because their league stage campaign ended the previous evening with a 160-run victory over the Netherlands. In contrast, New Zealand trained for three hours under lights at full capacity, hoping to address some of the recent flaws that have come to light.
If New Zealand’s four straight victories at the beginning of the World Cup served as a warning to others, it was because many of their five losses in the previous five games somewhat sapped their momentum.
New Zealand had a lot of work to cover to pick up the intensity in the semifinal match, having arrived in the city one day ahead of their competitors. The Kiwis, who frequently make it to the ODI World Cup semifinals, have experienced their fair share of setbacks in terms of their team’s performance, player injuries, and even the loss of a key player in Matt Henry.
Henry contributed admirably, taking 11 wickets in seven matches, but his hamstring injury kept him out of the competition.
After being drafted into the team approximately ten days ago, Kyle Jamieson, who was his successor, did not play in a league match.
Williamson watched the action for about thirty minutes while shadow batting just outside one of the nets here, as Ravindra and Mitchell went back to the nets to bowl.
