EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HINDU DELHI TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2019 SPORT 17 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Men in Blue may be humming, but the Kiwis can’t be taken lightly The momentum is with India as Williamson’s side has lost its last three matches in the league stage against Sri Lanka may be deemed an aberration. It re­ mains to be seen if Kohli will retain Ravindra Jadeja and perhaps bring in one among the wrist spinners — Yuzven­ dra Chahal and Kuldeep. The last five outings on the surface here favoured the team taking first strike includ­ ing India which defeated Pa­ K.C. Vijaya Kumar kistan and the West Indies. Manchester The pitches have slowed Blue skies turned dull, cotto­ down over the last fortnight ny tufts of clouds sauntered and scoreboard­pressure be­ in but the sun was out too at comes a raging beast at the Old Trafford which geared up last­four stage. for Tuesday’s World Cup sem­ The toss will be interesting ifinal pitting India against but Kohli’s men would like to New Zealand. A drizzle has believe that they are fully been forecast, perhaps the prepared. rain gods are being naughty The teams (from): after having draped a wet cur­ India: Virat Kohli (captain), Ro­ tain on the league fixture bet­ hit Sharma, M.S. Dhoni, K.L. Ra­ ween the rivals at Notting­ hul, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar ham’s Trent Bridge on June Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuv­ 13. neshwar Kumar, Mohammed The weather isn’t exactly a Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kul­ cause for alarm plus there is a deep Yadav, Rishabh Pant and reserve day too though rains Mayank Agarwal. are predicted for Wednesday. New Zealand: Kane Williamson Monday, not the manic one (captain), Ross Taylor, Tom usually seen at Wimbledon, Taking guard: M.S. Dhoni, under fire for not accelerating when required, will be keen to silence his critics. * AP Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de essentially was about the two Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, teams putting a lid on big­ tune the “it’s mine” calls in did in the 2015 edition where warm­up joust at the Oval on come the prime distributor of Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom game angst. India had option­ the deep as in the last game it finished runner­up. May 25. Since then India sixes while Dinesh Karthik is Latham, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, al training and the work­outs involving Sri Lanka, Kuldeep The Black Caps will lean on gained heft, defeated Bangla­ still feeling his way. Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and were more about relaxing the and Hardik Pandya nearly its batting duo of skipper desh in a practice skirmish Primarily what helps Kohli Tim Southee. limbs than exerting them. collided. Kane Williamson (481 runs so and enjoyed a red­hot streak is the knowledge that he has Umpires: Richard Illingworth far) and Ross Taylor besides barring a loss to England. Mo­ excellent speedsters with Jas­ and Richard Kettleborough; Sridhar means business Focus on staying fresh all­rounder James Neesham. mentum, that magical thing prit Bumrah and Shami lead­ Third umpire: Rod Tucker; Mohammed Shami tried plac­ New Zealand turned up later Its seam attack that includes that skippers talk about, vests ing the way while Bhuvnesh­ Match referee: David Boon. ing an energy drink bottle on in the afternoon and the hap­ Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, with the Men in Blue. war Kumar’s expensive phase Match starts at 3 p.m. IST. Patrick Farhat’s bald head py bunch at full strength, Neesham and Matt Henry can and the physio squirmed. bantered away besides prac­ be a handful especially if the Rohit’s sizzling run M.S. Dhoni, padded up for a tising. Again the focus was to atmosphere turns moist. Left­ Rohit Sharma’s mountain of batting stint, couldn’t resist a keep mind and body fresh arm spinner Mitchell Santner runs (647), inclusive of five kick when he sighted a foot­ ahead of a knockout clash. In­ may not have got too many centuries and the staggering ball. Fun was the underlying dia is the tournament’s form­ wickets but has kept it tight. support he found in K.L. Ra­ theme but fielding coach R. team and New Zealand, re­ New Zealand has lost its last hul and Kohli, have helped In­ Sridhar meant business as he mains the underdog that has three contests but the squad dia cope with a middle­order made Kuldeep Yadav and always punched above its cannot be taken for granted. that hasn’t exactly lit up the Rishabh Pant run towards weight. We are talking about Virat Kohli will remember charts. Pandya, Pant and each other while taking high a unit that stays deceptive that his opponent had pre­ Dhoni had their moments catches. The plan was to fine­ and lasts the course, like it vailed by six wickets in the and the first­named has be­ ‘Respect for Dhoni is sky-high’ We definitely deserve Everyone is relaxed, says Kohli Special Correspondent to be here: Williamson K.C. Vijaya Kumar side. It is up to both the ( Jadhav), M.S. (Dhoni) and Manchester Manchester teams to bring their A­game Rishabh (Pant) express Equations between a former Special Correspondent If there were nerves ahead and whoever handles pres­ themselves. Personal miles­ captain and his successor Manchester of a knockout game, Virat sure better is the team that is tones are something that no­ can be fraught with anxiety, Kane Williamson stressed Kohli masked it well. The In­ going to come out on top. one focuses on. Rohit said especially if the two gentle­ that his team being labelled dian skipper answered every New Zealand attack: The the same the other day. I men are still playing togeth­ the “underdogs” really question with candour and a New Zealand attack has al­ hope he gets two more so we er. But for M.S. Dhoni and doesn’t matter as what ready­smile and felt that his ways been balanced. Mitch­ can win two more games Virat Kohli, the passing of counts is the performance men should stick to their ‘A ell Santner brings in a lot of (laughs). I have never seen the baton has been remarka­ on match­day. The New Zea­ game’ against New Zealand control in the middle overs. anyone get five hundreds in ble for its grace and camara­ land captain spoke to the in the World Cup semifinal. We know that we will have to a World Cup or any other derie. With Dhoni playing media at Old Trafford here Kohli spoke to correspon­ play correct cricket to score tournament. He is at the mo­ his last World Cup and the on Monday. Excerpts. dents at Old Trafford here on runs because they bowl ment the top ODI player in current edition nearing its Semifinal stakes:India is a Monday. Excerpts. good lines. It’s going to be a the world. climax over the weekend, very successful and popular Under­19 days and the nice battle. It is a potent Five­bowler ploy: We Kohli paid tributes to his side. They bring so much to Williamson connect: It is attack. played with five bowlers be­ predecessor, who remains the sport that we are fortu­ quite nice to realise that 11 Rohit’s tons and Kohli’s cause it gives us more depth an inspiration and a sound­ nate to be a part of, but it is a years after we captained our missing century! It’s great in batting. But we are up to ing board for the current In­ cricket match. We will sim­ respective nations (in the that Rohit (Sharma) is scor­ reviewing that, otherwise, I dian skipper. plify things as best as we Under­19 World Cup at Ma­ ing so consistently which was just told that I got Kane Speaking to the media at can. Each side will want to laysia) we are here again in means that coming in the la­ out (in the Under­19 World Old Trafford here on Mon­ put the other under pres­ the senior World Cup. Neith­ ter half of the innings I have Cup) so I can bowl and I am day, Kohli said: “For us, who sure and when that hap­ er Kane nor I would have ev­ to play a different role which quite lethal (laughs). Having started our careers under pens, the next bit can be a er anticipated that this is about controlling the mid­ said that, it’s open for dis­ him, the respect will always real challenge. would happen. dle overs and letting guys cussion because we need to be there because of the op­ Kiwi bowling: Our attack The mood within the like Hardik (Pandya), Kedar be balanced on the field. portunities he gave us and has performed well on a va­ camp: Everyone is relaxed the faith he showed in us riety of surfaces and have and confident. All the teams and the way he handled the adapted superbly. We will Kane Williamson. * AP worked hard to get here and whole team in transition. need to do that again in this now whoever plays better Now we are the ones who match (semifinal) and assess plans that we want to imple­ will win. We are looking for­ are taking Indian cricket for­ the conditions as quickly as ment and try and play with ward to it. It’s been a long ward. When a person has possible. freedom. tournament, lots of hard done so much for the team The underdog tag:We are Countering Rohit: Rohit work and intense games and you have to appreciate and in the top four and we defi­ (Sharma) has been clearly we are happy that we made acknowledge.