Ahmedabad, March 8
New Zealand's star all-rounder Rachin Ravindra is on the verge of breaking a major record in the T20 World Cup for the Kiwis.
Rachin has scalped 11 wickets in the ongoing T20 World Cup; only New Zealand's ace speedster Trent Boult has taken more (13) wickets than him in a single edition of the T20 WC for Kiwi's.
In 8 fixtures in the ongoing T20 WC, Rachin has grabbed 11 wickets at an average of 10.63 and an economy of 6.88; on the other hand, Boult in the 2021 WC edition took 13 wickets in 7 matches at an average of 13.30.
Rachin will next hit the field on Sunday against India in the final of the T20 WC in Ahmedabad. India is looking to defend its title, while New Zealand aims to break its ICC title drought as they clash on Sunday in Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Going into the final, India are chasing a few firsts - first to defend a T20 World Cup title, first host team to win the T20 World Cup and the first to three T20 World Cup championships. For New Zealand, the biggest challenges will be how to keep the star-studded Indian batting line-up relatively quiet and how to deal with Jasprit Bumrah's unerring line and length.
India and New Zealand took contrasting paths to the final; they entered the contest on the back of strong batting performances in the semi-final. New Zealand lost to South Africa in the group stage and to England in the Super Eights, but were dominant in the final four.
After restricting the Proteas to 169/8, New Zealand raced to a nine-wicket win in 12.5 overs, courtesy of a stunning 33-ball hundred by Finn Allen, the fastest in T20 World Cups.
Meanwhile, for India, who were perfect in the group stage, the only blip was the loss to South Africa in the opening Super Eight contest. The semi-final against England was a high-scoring thriller, with India piling on 253/7 and England falling just seven runs short.
In their head-to-head clashes, history may favour New Zealand, but form is with India. The Black Caps have not lost a match to India in the T20 World Cup, having scored victories in 2007, 2016 and 2021.
However, the host nation was dominant in their recent T20I series in India, with a comfortable 4-1 win.
New Zealand Squad: Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner(c), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy.
India Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav.
- ANI
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