India have made a bright start to their fifth match of the ODI World Cup 2023, with pacers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami taking a wicket each as New Zealand managed to score just 40 runs in 11 overs. Siraj sent back the dangerous Devon Conway before Shami got Will Young, in what was the veteran pacer's first wicket of the tournament on his first ball of the tournament.
He struck on the first ball with a slightly short of a length delivery near the off stump. The seam was perfectly upright as the ball nipped back in just slightly and the batter, Young, attempting to drive it square on the off side, inside-edged it onto his stumps, making it 19/2 in the ninth over.
In World Cups, Mohammad Shami boasts a bowling average of 15.31 — the best in the tournament. His strike rate of 18.0 is also tournament history (minimum 20 wickets). Shami has impressively claimed 32 wickets in 12 World Cup matches.
His 32 wickets is also the third-most taken by an Indian bowler, going above Anil Kumble's 31 wickets in 18 matches. Leading the list with 44 wickets each are Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan.
About the IND vs NZ game
Earlier, India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl first. In the absence of Hardik Pandya, skipper Rohit has gone in for Shami and the extra batting option in Suryakumar Yadav while also dropping Shardul Thakur from the India Playing XI.
Speaking at the toss, he said, “Looks like a good pitch, we'll back ourselves to chase. Quite important to keep the momentum going, forget what happened in the past. Need to be at it all the time. This is one place everyone wants to come and play, beautiful weather and nice stadium."
Currently, New Zealand sits at the top of the points table with an impressive net run rate of +1.923. India closely follows in the second spot, having 8 points and a net run rate of +1.659. Although a victory over the Blackcaps might push India to the leading position, the journey to reach there is expected to be challenging.
India's Playing XI
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
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