World Cup 2019: The star-studded showdown between India and New Zealand

At the back of dominating performances against South Africa and Australia in the ongoing World Cup 2019, the Men in Blue will be looking to capitalize on the momentum that they have built and claim a win against an unbeaten New Zealand unit at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on 13th June 2019.

After thrashing Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in their first game of the tournament, the Black Caps had a minor scare against Bangladesh but held on to win by two wickets. Post two wins, New Zealand completed a hat-trick of wins with a comfortable seven-wicket win against Afghanistan.

Virat Kohli's men will be riding high on confidence after wins against two big teams and with both batting and bowling units impressing, the Indian team seems to have ticked the right boxes as they head into a crucial encounter against New Zealand.

With India's batting unit in fine touch, chasing down 228 with six wickets to spare against South Africa and putting up 352 against a strong Australian bowling attack, the strategy to tackle the New Zealand bowlers will be of prime importance.

For one, New Zealand's bowlers have enjoyed a terrific run, managing to restrict the batsmen to below 300 in each match. Secondly, India will be without the services of southpaw Shikhar Dhawan at the top of the order, who scored a scintillating century against Australia but has been ruled out of the World Cup for three weeks with a broken thumb.

With the in-form KL Rahul likely to shifted up the order, all eyes will be on the coveted number four slot, due to be a battle between Vijay Shankar's all-round prowess and Dinesh Karthik's experience and finishing skill.

What to expect

The venue for the this clash, the Trent Bridge stadium in Nottingham last hosted the ODI match between Australia and Windies where a dominating five-wicket haul from Mitchell Starc helped his team clinch a 15-run win.

Such was the pace and bounce on offer that the pacers from both sides accounted for a total of 13 wickets out of 19 wickets that fell as the quicks made merry on the day. One can expect the same trend to follow, with the pacers set to play a key role in restricting the opposition batsmen.

Can the Indian pacers make an impact?

This would mean that Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah will have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders as they look to stem the run flow and also pick wickets that could give India an advantage in the game.

Coming into the contest, India will have the mental edge with six wins from the last eight games, including a 4-1 series routing at home and could be backed to maintain their winning run against the Blacks Caps.

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