Irrespective of the format, the Indian cricket team can boast of a better head-to-head record against New Zealand. However, when it comes to white-ball ICC tournaments, India have somehow managed to not put on display their A-game in tense situations. As a result, they have won three and lost eight out of their combined 12 ICC Cricket World Cup and ICC T20 World Cup matches against the Black Caps.
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To put things into perspective, no current Indian cricketer has ever tasted victory in either of these tournaments against this opposition. India, who had defeated New Zealand during 1987 World Cup twice, had last got the better of them during the World Cup held in South Africa a couple of decades ago.
In this period, India have lost to New Zealand during World Twenty20 2007 and 2016, 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2021 T20 World Cup. Readers must note that the two teams are locking horns for the first time in ODI World Cup since the Kiwis knocked India out at the Old Trafford over four years ago.
Fan Wants Virat Kohli To Avenge MS Dhoni 2019 World Cup Dismissal Vs New Zealand
If truth be told, memories of the first semi-final of the 2019 World Cup still haunt Indian fans. A rarest of rare occasion which witnessed an ODI being played over two days, it witnessed India falling short of a 240-run target by a small margin. If that wasn’t enough of a heartbreak, the match also ended up being legendary captain MS Dhoni‘s last outing for the national team.
Dhoni, who retired from international cricket the following year, had regretted not diving to prevent a run-out in Manchester. In what proved to be a game-changing dismissal in the penultimate over of the match, Martin Guptill‘s inch-perfect direct-hit from the boundary crushed all Indian hopes of playing a World Cup semi-final after eight years.
It is due to the same reason that a fan watching India-New Zealand ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 league match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium wants former captain Virat Kohli to avenge predecessor Dhoni’s dismissal from the previous edition of the tournament. One of the many Indian fans who are yet to move on from that incident, his anguish was expressed in the form of a banner.
“Baap Ka Dada Ka Mahi Bhai Ke Runout Ka Sabka Badla Lega Tera Chiku,” read his banner in Dharamsala today.
For the unversed, the line on the banner is inspired from actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s renowned dialogue from Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gangs of Wasseypur 2’ (2012). Drawing parallels between an actor being hell-bent on avenging the death of his father, grandfather and brother and Kohli (nicknamed Chiku), this fan wants the latter to punish New Zealand on Sunday.
How Well Has Virat Kohli Performed Vs New Zealand?
With India looking set to be in a position of attempting to seal a challenging run-chase against New Zealand again, Kohli will be required to contribute generously as was the case in their last match against Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday.
Much like all other oppositions, Kohli has a praiseworthy ODI record against New Zealand. In 30 ODIs since first facing them in 2010, the right-handed batter has amassed 1,433 runs at an average of 55.11 and a strike rate of 95.40 with the help of five centuries and eight half-centuries.
That being said, Kohli hasn’t scored a single half-century in his last five ODI innings (including three in January this year) against the Kiwis. In this period, all he has managed are 79 runs at 15.80.
When it comes to playing at home, Kohli’s numbers receive a shot in the arm as his 910 runs have come at an average and strike rate of 70 and 99.12 respectively including four centuries and half-centuries each.
It is worth of a mention that this is Kohli’s second World Cup clash against the Black Caps. Leading the side, he had scored 1 (6) at No. 3 in 2019.
