Team India continued its excellent performance in the league stage of the World Cup 2023 and won all 9 matches. In its last league match, Team India defeated Netherlands by 160 runs in Bengaluru. Team India easily won every match of the tournament and made it to the semi-finals. Now the wait is for the semi-finals, where Team India will face New Zealand. The same New Zealand, which had eliminated Team India in the semi-finals in the last World Cup. This time too the Kiwi team is a big threat to India and one of the reasons for this is Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
The first semi-final of the tournament will be played at Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday 15 November. It was on this ground that Team India won the World Cup title 12 years ago. This time this ground will be an important step towards the title. In the current tournament, India also played a match at Wankhede, in which it defeated 2011 runner-up Sri Lanka for just 55 runs and won by 302 runs. Looking at that performance and current form, Team India is a strong contender but it is not easy at all.
win the toss, bat first
In fact, the result of the match at Wankhede Stadium will also depend on who wins the toss and what he does first. The matches of the World Cup 2023 have witnessed that the team which has won the toss and decided to bat first on this ground has been in advantage. The one who chose fielding first has only lost. Only 4 matches were played in Wankhede before the semi-finals. In these four matches, the teams batting first scored big scores. The only exception was the Afghanistan-Australia match, where Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat but lost and everyone knows the reason for that – Glenn Maxwell’s astonishing double century.
batting first is therefore important
Now let us tell you why it is important to bat first in Wankhede. In fact, the new ball always helps the fast bowlers at Wankhede. It is quite high in the initial overs, but even after batting first during the day, the situation becomes easier after 5-6 overs. This help lasts longer in the second innings and the pacers remain a problem for the batsmen with the help of swing and seam because there is a light breeze in the evening.
The statistics of this tournament also confirm this. It has always been difficult to bat in the second innings on this ground. Especially the batting in the first powerplay (1-10 overs) is no less than a disaster. In the 4 matches played here, a total of 17 wickets fell in the first powerplay, most of which went to the pacers. Whereas if this limit is increased to 12 overs then the figure becomes 20 wickets. Obviously, Team India’s batsmen are in good form but it may prove to be very difficult to deal with swing bowlers like Trent Boult and Tim Southee in the second innings.
