Overview:
Finally after more than 1544 Days of wait, the most popular event of Cricket – ODI World Cup is starting today. And it will begin with a bang as the Finalists of the last edition will be clashing in the opening match of the tournament – Defending Champions England Vs New Zealand.
Much have been talked about the manner in which England won the World Cup, not being able to beat New Zealand in the actual match and the super over but just through boundary count. It led to a huge controversy, which also led to a permanent end to the boundary count rule. But as the new edition begins, it’s time to shift our focus to its new chapter.
England has dominated the world in the last few years through their aggressive and fearless approach across formats. Their batting is the one of the best and the proof is the fact that they currently hold the record of scoring the Top 3 Highest Totals in the Format – 498, 481 and 444.
New Zealand, on the other hand, is known for the consistency in the ICC Tournaments, having reached the Finals of the ICC Tournaments in all 3 formats in the last 4 years – ODI World Cup, World Test Championship 2021, and T20 World Cup 2021, out of which they also won the WTC Final.
Probable XI:
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes/Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c)(wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c)(wk), Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham/Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson
Interesting Facts and Stats
(*) Head to Head Record: In the 95 ODIs between the 2 sides overall, Both sides share equal wins (44) with 4 matches ending without a result and 3 Ties while in World Cups, they have met 10 times before and New Zealand has a slight edge winning 5 out of 10 matches while England won 4 and 1 tie (IYKYK)
(*) Dawid Malan has played 20 innings following the previous world cup, which can be equally divided into 4 quarters - 5 Ducks, 5 Half-Centuries, 5 Centuries and 5 Scores of 1-49.
(*) Trent Boult needs 3 more wickets to complete 200 ODI Wickets
(*) This will be 50th ODI for Ish Sodhi
Match Details:
Date: 05 October 2023
Time: 2:00 PM Local Time (8:30 AM GMT)
Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Pitch and Weather Report:
Narendra Modi Stadium is known for being a batting paradise and we can expect scores of 300+ in both the innings. Spinners will not get much help but pacers can expect assistance towards the second half of the match.
Teams winning the toss would prefer chasing due to runs coming easily on the surface. With New Zealand missing their captain and most important batsman in Kane Williamson, England starts the match as favorites.
Dream XI:
