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Legendary footballer David Beckham was in attendance as India face New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup 2023 semifinals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. The former England international, who played for big clubs like Manchester United and Real Madrid, was in the country as UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador — a role which he took up in the year 2005. Beckham was seen walking with legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as he took in the atmosphere at the stadium and he even had a small chat with Virat Kohli before meeting the other members of the Indian cricket team.
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand.
Virat Kohli with Sachin Tendulkar & David Beckham.
– An iconic moment. pic.twitter.com/tlezxhZrd9
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 15, 2023
Three of the four previous tournament games at the Wankhede have been won by the team batting first, with the exception Australia’s stunning defeat of Afghanistan, where Glenn Maxwell‘s remarkable 201 not out secured a three-wicket victory.
Both unbeaten tournament hosts India and New Zealand were unchanged.
David Beckham, Sachin Tendulkar and Jay Shah sitting together watching #INDvsNZ big Semi-Final.pic.twitter.com/NiNbqyxDOL
— Haroon (@Haroon_HMM) November 15, 2023
“It looks like a good pitch, on the slower side as well but whatever we do, we know we’ve got to do that well,” said opening batsman Rohit at the toss.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson added: “We would’ve had a bat first as well. It’s obviously a used surface but we’ll try to make use of it with the ball first up and hopefully there’s some dew later.”
David Beckham talking with Indian players ahead of the semis…!!!! pic.twitter.com/R7ny9JQZnE
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 15, 2023
Before the game got underway, India cricket icon Tendulkar and former England football captain Beckham paraded the World Cup trophy.
Iconic moment pic.twitter.com/1DCYxD5aDW
— Priyanga Praveen (@mpravin003) November 15, 2023
India’s Virat Kohli needs one more century to set an outright new one-day international record of 50 hundreds after he drew level with retired former team-mate Sachin Tendulkar’s mark of 49 against South Africa.
India won all nine of their pool matches, but were pushed hard by New Zealand during a four-wicket success in Dharamsala last month.
New Zealand, by contrast, lost four games before qualifying for the knockout stages.
Four years ago, the Black Caps defeated India in a World Cup semi-final in Manchester that spanned two days because of rain.
“It was way back in 2019 that we played that semi-final, New Zealand have been one of the most consistent team over the years and it’s going to be a good contest,” said Rohit.
“I’ve been constantly talking about how important it is to turn up on the day and forget what has happened in the past. We have to control the controllables.”
India are bidding for a third one-day international World Cup title to add to their 1983 triumph in England and 2011 victory over Sri Lanka in a Wankhede final.
New Zealand, the finalists at the last two World Cups, have yet to lift the trophy.
Wednesday’s winners will face either five-time champions Australia or South Africa, who meet in Thursday’s second semi-final in Kolkata, in an Ahmedabad final on Sunday.
Teams
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wkt), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson (capt), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wkt), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
(With AFP inputs)
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