Follow UsIn all likelihood, New Zealand are once again set to play India in the semi-final of a World Cup and Trent Boult couldn’t be more excited. We all know what happened in the 2019 semi-final in Manchester, with India suffering a heart-breaking defeat against Kane Williamson and his men.
In what was a must-win clash, the Black Caps hammered Sri Lanka on Thursday (November 9) and have all but confirmed their spot in the semis of the 2023 World Cup. Pakistan and Afghanistan are mathematically still alive, but that’s it.
India have been on a phenomenal run in this tournament, having won all their eight games. The Men in Blue, however, don’t have a great record against New Zealand in the ICC events. But they did get the better of them earlier in the league stage. The two teams are now likely to collide on Wednesday (November 15) in Mumbai.
“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 playing red hot good cricket and at a great ground - you couldn't script it any better. 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,” said Boult.
“Have played India a lot of times. Quality players, know these conditions very well. Hard to comment on what the conditions will be at Wankhede, but you know, history suggests it's a good wicket. Nice to have come up against them in Dharamshala. Totally different ground and different facilities. We'll turn our focus to that challenge. Very, very good players, but pressure does things to the best of players at any time. So just look forward to taking that on.”
Talking further about the possibility of playing India and their attacking game style, Boult said: “They're playing a positive style of cricket. 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.
“Still has to be ticked off but 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. Yeah, it's very exciting.”
The Black Caps won their first four games of the tournament and it looked like they would easily qualify for the semis. However, they lost the next four and put themselves under immense pressure. However, they turned up against Sri Lanka in some style and won by a massive margin. They bowled them out for just 171 and then chased it down in 23.2 overs.
“Yeah, satisfied to obviously get the win, get two very crucial points. I thought with the ball we were put under a bit of pressure, but we stuck to the plans we put in place and it's nice to be on the right side of it,” said Boult.
New Zealand haven’t got too many wickets in the powerplay, but such wasn’t the case against Sri Lanka. Boult, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson got the ball to talk in the powerplay and had Sri Lanka five down by the end of 10 overs.
“Personally, I like to see the ball swinging around and moving in the air. To be honest, it hasn't really done that much throughout this World Cup. It almost took me back to my younger days when you're playing ODI cricket for the first time, the first question you have to ask yourself is, do you keep trying to swing the ball or go to plan B as quickly as you can?
“Might have been a little bit quicker on that this afternoon here in Bangalore with a couple of wickets in the powerplay. But yeah, conditions change right throughout the country and it's always the hardest thing to read the wicket and what's going to happen. And some days we've come up against some good batters, some positive stroke play and it's just been how it is.”
The left-arm seamer claimed three wickets against Sri Lanka and became only the sixth bowler to take 50 wickets in the World Cups. “Very proud, not something that I was ever targeting, but yeah, everyone loves World Cup cricket. Everyone wants to play against the best players and test their game out.
“I've been very fortunate to have three campaigns in the ODI shares and nice to be contributing. I've enjoyed playing with all the guys here. I've got very good friends in the team and we really help each other out. So nice to bring up 50 this afternoon and hopefully a few more.”