NEW DELHI: Team India chose to not tinker with its winning combination and went in with an unchanged playing eleven, as skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first against New Zealand in the first semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2023 at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Black Caps' skipper Kane Williamson also chose to go in with an unchanged eleven.
India won all their nine league matches coming into the semi-final, while New Zealand managed to clinch the last semi-final slot by winning their concluding league fixture.
"It looks like a good pitch, looks like on the slower side. Whatever we do, we need to do well," said Rohit at the toss. "I think it was back in 2019 when we played the semis. New Zealand is one of the most consistent sides. (We have been) Constantly talking about how important it is about turning up on the day. It is about controlling the controllables."
Kiwi skipper Williamson said that he would have liked to bat first.
"Looks like a used pitch. We would want to do well with the ball and then hopefully, some dew later. Amazing occasion. Four years ago, similar situation but a different location. They have been playing some good cricket," said Williamson.
There has been some pre-match controversy, with reports of the originally selected unused pitch at the Wankhede Stadium switched to a used pitch, allegedly to assist Indian spinners.
PLAYING XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham(w), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
