| Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Date: Wednesday, 15 November Time: 08:30 GMT |
| Protection: Dwell Check Match Particular radio and textual content commentary on each match on BBC Radio 5 Sports activities Additional & BBC Sport web site, plus desktop, tablets, mobiles and app |
As Mumbai settles after Sunday’s Diwali celebrations and the 2 days of vacation that adopted, one other event looms.
It was on these streets, within the sq. mile between Marine Drive on the Arabian Sea to the Gateway of India on the western aspect of the Mumbai peninsula, that 1000’s celebrated India’s World Cup win in 2011.
That victory at Wankhede Stadium was sealed by a six into the gang from captain MS Dhoni and a particular seat now marks the spot the place the ball landed.
It has been a protracted 12 years for India since, however victory towards New Zealand within the semi-final again on the identical floor on Wednesday would take them to the brink.
Throughout codecs there have been seven males’s World Cups since India’s final triumph – far too many for cricket’s biggest superpower.
This yr’s version is the one they’ve marked as the perfect likelihood to place that proper.
To date on their travels across the nation, India have swung from an unstoppable machine to cricket’s Harlem Globetrotters throughout their 9 wins from 9.
They’ve swatted groups apart whereas discovering time to additionally chase particular person milestones, backed by an ear-splitting wave of blue.
New Zealand in all probability supplied the sternest check within the group stage, however have been nonetheless crushed by 4 wickets with relative ease.
Virat Kohli bowling off the mistaken foot towards the Netherlands, with fellow batters Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav additionally sending down overs, gave the match the texture of a charity enjoyable day at your native membership.
After 4 video games India misplaced to harm Hardik Pandya, the all-rounder who was presupposed to make the entire thing tick, solely to get higher by changing him with irresistible seamer Mohammed Shami, who has 16 wickets in 5 matches.
4 of their high 5 have made centuries whereas the opposite, Gill, has a high rating of 92.
They have been going to be overwhelming favourites no matter who they met within the semi-finals.
Previous to the match, India performed extra one-day internationals on this four-year cycle than anybody else and the result’s a workforce fine-tuned within the format, as England have been 4 years in the past.
Like England, they’ve made essentially the most of residence circumstances and brought benefit of the schedule they put in place.
Their largest rivals in a 130,000-seater cauldron, the defending champions on a three-day turnaround, the 2 semi-final venues of their remaining three group video games and a qualifier saved for final in case a web run-rate enhance was wanted.
Regardless of all that, converse to the person or lady on the street, a taxi driver or the employees in a restaurant and there may be not the gushing confidence you would possibly anticipate.
Maybe they do not wish to jinx it. However that is additionally a rustic that has suffered in these knockout matches in recent times.
There was the annihilation in Adelaide, the West Indies whirlwind in 2016, a subsidence in Sydney against the hosts a year earlier and, in fact, misery against the Black Caps in the Manchester rain – 4 consecutive semi-final defeats up to now.
There was no escaping the difficulty for captain Sharma in Tuesday’s media convention.
“Clearly, behind your thoughts, you realize what has occurred previously,” he mentioned.
“However what has occurred previously is the previous. What you are able to do at this time, what you are able to do tomorrow is what we often discuss.”
One do-it-yourself signal, held aloft in Kolkata, in all probability defined the India followers’ emotions greatest.
“My coronary heart is not prepared for a similar factor once more,” it learn.
For Kohli this World Cup is the prospect to tick a remaining field as he cements his legacy.
He was a part of the triumphant 2011 squad and carried his hero Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders across the outfield in Mumbai.
That win was Tendulkar’s crowning glory.
With 594 runs, two centuries and a median of 99 to his title already on this match, victory in Ahmedabad within the remaining on Sunday could be Kohli’s – a second World Cup crown, however this time one he has dominated.
For Rohit, victory towards New Zealand would give him a shot at one thing Kohli failed to realize as skipper, having performed his profession in his team-mate’s shadow.
New Zealand, in the meantime, are nearly the antithesis of India – a small nation who regularly punch above their weight, having misplaced previously two finals of this competitors.
“If you get to finals, issues type of begin once more,” mentioned captain Kane Williamson.
The Black Caps have repeatedly sprung surprises.
Nonetheless, it seems like solely the burden of historical past can cease India now.