🏏 Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #41: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 🏏 - Page 2

Imagine 25 crore people at a distance of at least 2000 kms praying for rain in Bengaluru. Persistent rain which washes out this game will come as a blessing for Pakistan. That's exactly what their fans would be praying for. Bengaluru and Rains, never ending love affair. The locals will quietly nod to this as well. NZ fans want a full game. SL fans want two points for the Champions Trophy qualification. Indian fans are hedging their bets. Too many prayers and a few will go unanswered today. But Pakistan are looking for a back door entry. They tried so in 2019 but were pipped right at the door. 2023 might as well mimick 2019 if NZ beat SL.

Our early bird Pratyush Sinha says, "Hello from Chinnaswamy! It's very overcast at the moment. Lockie and Neesham are sat near the outfield as Boult, Southee, Phillips, Rachin, Santner and Sodhi bowl on one of the side pitches on the square

NZ are coming into this on the back of 4 straight losses. Their confidence has been shaken. They fought valiantly against India and Australia. SA crushed them. Pakistan and rain edged them. Rain did choose Pakistan that day. NZ want a fair deal today or may be the inclement to be inclined in their favour

NZ batters have been putting the runs on the board pretty frequently. KW was included in the playing XI. He took to scoring like Duck takes to water. Rachin Ravindra became the toast of Chinnaswamy and his name will again be echoed out loud if he gets going today. But NZ's bowlers barring Mitch Santner have slipped under the radar and haven't done much worth noticing. Chinnaswamy is the harsh reality that bowlers come to terms to. It is a batsman's game and every inch of the grandeur in Bengaluru makes you realize that. Flat wicket. Short boundaries. The ball flying around. Fielders are aberrations. Cricket gets reduced to a boxing game where two boxers don't jab at each other but at the punching bag - sadly the bowlers.

Originally posted by: Viswasruti

What they said

"We sort of knew the talent was there, but to come out and repeat and be one of the players of the tournament so far, not only with the bat, but he's also making really valuable contributions with the ball. Yeah, very, very special player and great that he's on our side" - New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is all praise for Rachin Ravindra

"When you look at the bigger picture, we made mistakes in all three departments in most of the games. Our fielding was not up to the mark and whenever we batted, we didn't bowl well" - Sri Lanka Assistant Coach Naveed Nawaz with an honest assessment

nz must complete the full symmetry now - 4 good games then 4 bad 😅

Thanks for the tag snd thread.

Hope rain stays away from the game.

SL batters and NZ batters have the task cut. The brawns for a change will be preferred over brains here. That day even 400 looked chaseable. I don't need to elaborate much. Every run counts at the Chinnaswamy. NZ are at the last hurdle. They can't trip here. Else the finalists from 2019 stand a chance of elimination. SL have been all over the place but they want a ticket for the 2025 Champions Trophy as well. If they don't win today, they run the risk of being TIMED OUT for that flight.

Thanks for the tag

I don't understand one thing:

Why play there when you know that it's gonna rain.

That too in advance lol

Ab yeh kya logic hai?

Logic mein no logic hai or kuch extra logic hai?

This thread will have some next level entertainment today.