The ICC World T20 2016 is set to move in to the business end of the competition where a single mistake could cost teams the title. Four teams – England, New Zealand, West Indies and India – have reached the semifinals of the competition, and it is anybody's game.
New Zealand and England will square off in the first semifinal at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi, Wednesday, and the match is expected to be a close contest.
New Zealand have been the best team in the competition and are favourites to reach the final of the World T20. The Black Caps have not lost a single game in the World T20 so far, defeating favourites like India and Australia in the Super 10 stage.
With such a record, New Zealand should not be short of confidence.
The Black Caps will look to Martin Guptill to provide a fantastic start. While the batsmen are important, New Zealand are in this position because of their bowlers.
Spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi have been mighty impressive on the slow turning tracks in India. Santner and Sodhi have taken nine and eight wickets respectively in the competition.
However, New Zealand cannot afford to take England lightly. Like New Zealand, England have also played some solid cricket to defeat top teams like South Africa and Sri Lanka in the World T20.
England are a strong batting side with some special T20 players in their team, including Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan and Joe Root. All these England players need to come up with their A-game to defeat New Zealand. Root and Buttler will hold the key for England, who won the World T20 title in 2012.
The England batting looks strong, and if their players get their act together, they might well be on their way to the Eden Gardens in Kolkata for the World T20 final. But it is not only their batsmen, who need to deliver, their bowlers will also have to be equally efficient against some strong hitters in the New Zealand camp.
New Zealand may have a slight edge in the semifinals owing to their terrific performance in the Super 10 stage, but England will be determined to hand New Zealand their first defeat in the World T20.
Teams: England: Eoin Morgan (C), Moeen Ali, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wk), Liam Dawson, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid. Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, James Vince, David Willey.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (C), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
England vs New Zealand schedule
Date: March 30
Time: 7 p.m. IST ( 1:30 p.m. GMT, 8:30 a.m. ET)
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
TV listings: India: Star Sports 1/HD1, Star Sports 3/HD3. Indian subcontinent: Star Sports network. UK: Sky Sports. New Zealand: Sky Sports. South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: SuperSport.US and Canada: Willow TV. Middle East and North Africa: OSN Sports Cricket HD. Australia: Fox Sports 3. Hong Kong and Singapore: Star Cricket.Malaysia: Astro Cricket HD. West Indies: ESPN.
