Cricket World Cup 2019 Semi-Final Preview – 10.30 am
India managed to win the group stage of the Cricket World Cup thanks to Australia slipping to a defeat in their final match. It was some powerful stuff played by India who won all but one of their games to comfortably land a place in the semi-finals. They will be stepping out at Old Trafford against New Zealand on Tuesday looking to book a place in Sunday’s Final. It is India who will start as the red hot favourites for the match.
India v New Zealand Odds*
India 3/10
New Zealand 5/2
* (Betting Odds were taken from Bet365 on July 7th, 2019 at 4:17 a.m.)
Can India reach the 2019 World Cup Final?
It is hard to find any cracks in the Indian line up. They came into the tournament as one of the front runners and boy have they delivered. Their only defeat happened against England in their seventh of nine games, but they hit straight back to win their last two games. On Saturday they took down Sri Lanka by 7 wickets to move to the top of the table. They stayed there because Australia surprisingly lost against the already-eliminated South Africa in their final game.
So that was a boost. Had India of dropped back to the second place they would have been taking on England in the semi-finals. Instead, they get what should be an easier game against the Kiwis. India boasts the top scoring batsman of the tournament and that is Rohit Sharma who 647 runs on a board for an average of 92.42 which is stunning.
Sharma is 9/4 favourite to be India’s top performer with the bat in this semi-final* (Betting Odds were taken from Bet365 on July 7th, 2019 at 4:17 a.m.). India are two-time winners of the Cricket World Cup, their titles coming in 1983 and in 2011. Four years ago they made it to the semi-finals where they lost out to Australia.
India v New Zealand Head to Head
India and New Zealand have seen a lot of each other this year. Back in January they met in New Zealand for a five-match series. India walked away with 4-1 series victory. In the last decade, there have been 26 ODI fixtures between India and New Zealand. India hold a W19 D1 L9 record from those.
India have won six of the last seven meetings against the Kiwis. There has been one previous meeting between the two at Old Trafford. That was back in 1975 when New Zealand won by 4 wickets after batting first in the match.
Can New Zealand beat India and return to the final?
Four years ago as joint hosts, New Zealand reached the final of the World Cup. They had taken out South Africa in an exciting semi final match, before getting pummelled by Australia in the final itself. Without having won the tournament, New Zealand has a pretty decent record at the World Cup. They have finished as losing semi-finalists four times and then there was that runners up spot last time. New Zealand has faced India in seven previous World Cup matches and they are actually on top with a W4 L3 record against them.
However, for this campaign, the Kiwis have gone off the boil. They lost their last three games after going undefeated in their opening six. Those defeats came against Pakistan, Australia and England and they were all pretty limp losses as well. The Kiwis always looked likely to get to the top four because of their strong start to the tournament and positive net run rate. But it’s strange how noncompetitive they looked at the end. Skipper Kane Williamson needs a big game, as does Martin Guptill who is 4/1 to top score for the Kiwis* (Betting Odds were taken from Bet365 on July 7th, 2019 at 4:17 a.m.). He was the top scorer at the 2015 World Cup incidentally.
Predictions
Both teams have beaten the West Indies in matches at Old Trafford so they have both seen action on the ground. Interestingly the game between them scheduled in the group stage was rained out, so we can’t look back at anything there. But India have been bossing the Kiwis in the recent ODI meetings and New Zealand do look to have lost their way a bit. India to win.
