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Cricket PlayersVirat Kohli reveals reason behind New Zealand's stellar record against India in ICC events: 'Credit to side for...
In-form Virat Kohli opened up about the stellar record of New Zealand ahead of the World Cup encounter in Dharamsala.
A lot is at stake as Rohit Sharma's Team India is up against New Zealand in match No.21 of the ICC World Cup 2023 on Sunday. After recording four consecutive wins in their respective campaigns, India and New Zealand are set to resume their One Day International (ODI) World Cup rivalry for the first time since the 2019 semi-final. Under Kane Williamson's leadership, New Zealand upstaged the Virat Kohli-starrer side in a thrilling encounter to seal their berth for the 2019 World Cup final.
On Sunday, Team India will hope to recover from the 2019 heartbreak by handing New Zealand its first ICC defeat in 20 years. India last defeated the Black Caps in the 2003 edition of the ICC World Cup. Since 1992, India have only registered a single win over the Kiwis in ICC events. Speaking ahead of India's crucial game against the Williamson-less side, batting icon Kohli opened up about the stellar record of the Black Caps.
'New Zealand have very structured way of playing'
"They are a very professional side and they are also a very structured side. They have a very structured way of playing their cricket but within that structured way they are very consistent and that's been the reason for their success consistently. They are a very consistent side and credit to the way they have played their cricket," Kohli told Star Sports.
New Zealand kickstarted its campaign in India by hammering defending world champions England. The Kiwis then defeated the likes of Netherlands (by 99 runs) and Bangladesh (by eight wickets) before hammering Afghanistan by 149 runs. India on the other, defeated five-time champions Australia by 6 wickets, arch-rivals Pakistan by 7 wickets and the Men In Blue also registered a 69-run win over Afghanistan. India have arrived in Dharamsala after outclassing Bangladesh by seven wickets.
'New Zealand don't make many mistakes'
"Any team that plays against them obviously has to find ways of breaking that rhythm and playing to the best of their abilities, which will eventually decide whether you're going to cope up with their consistency or not because they are not a team that makes many mistakes and that's been their strength and at the international level if you don't make many mistakes, then you have a great chance of winning the game more often than not. So, that's as I said full credit to the way they have structured their cricket," Kohli added.
Kohli in hot form at World Cup
Batting maestro Kohli slammed his century No.48 in India's previous outing at the ODI World Cup 2023. Kohli is one century away from matching Tendulkar's record tally of 49 ODI hundreds. The 34-year-old has amassed 259 runs in four matches of the ODI World Cup. "The way they have come up in world cricket in the last 6-7 years, 2015 finalists, 2019 finalists and they have beat us in the ICC Test Championship final as well, so yeah big credit goes to them," Kohli concluded.
