India vs New Zealand Prediction & Betting Tips - ICC World Cup

Prediction published on 08/07/2019, 17:43  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 08/07/2019 at 18:43 in Cricket Predictions

India finally ran out the group winners in the ICC Cricket World Cup finishing ahead of Australia by a single point. They won seven of their nine games with only one defeat by England, the other match being rained off. They come into this semi-final against New Zealand fresh from a final group win over Sri Lanka that clinched finishing top of the group. Saturday's win featured another century by Rohit Sharma, a record fifth in this tournament. He averages 92.43 with 647 runs in his eight innings. If New Zealand are to have any hope of winning this semi-final they have to find a way of getting him out early on. Even if they do that, India have several other batsman that can win matches for them. Virat Kholi has 442 runs so far with five half-centuries. You get the feeling he might just be saving that big century for either this match or the final on Sunday.  It's not all about their batting line-up though. India have bowled well in this tournament with Mohammed Shami and Jaspirt Bumrah taking 31 wickets between them.

The group match between these two countries just happened to be the one that was abandoned without a ball being bowled. India have beaten the New Zealanders 55 times in one-day internationals compared to 45 losses. Their last meeting was a pre-tournament warm-up and was won by New Zealand. They went on to make a good start to this tournament but their form has dipped in recent weeks. New Zealand lost to Australia by 86 runs and then by 119 runs to England. Both games saw rather miserable batting efforts by New Zealand with one eye on protecting the net run rate that eventually saw them qualify ahead of Pakistan. They do seem to have lost their sparkle of late and unless that returns they aren't going to make the final. Go for India to win this match.