Beckham is on a three-day visit to India as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. UNICEF and the International Cricket Council (ICC) had joined hands to promote gender inclusion and women’s empowerment through cricket.
India have won the toss and Rohit Sharma declared that the home side will be batting first in this all-important clash.
India will hope to overcome the demons of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2019 as the Men in Blue head into the knockouts on the back of winning all their nine league stage matches.
They had defeated the Kiwis in a crunch encounter at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamshala. Batting mainstay Virat Kohli starred with a remarkable 95-run innings in that game, and the 35-year-old will be chasing his 50th ODI ton now.
New Zealand started the tournament strongly, winning their opening four games before hitting a slump and losing the same number of matches on a trot. It was their thumping victory over Sri Lanka in Bengaluru on Thursday that took them over the finishing line, with Trent Boult returning with a three-wicket haul in his opening spell and thus warming up properly for the clash against India.
First Published: Nov 15, 2023 1:43 PM IST