India national cricket team will play New Zealand national cricket team in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 semi-final. Rohit Sharma, captain of the Indian team, spoke to the media on the eve of the contest, claiming that time has come for luck to favour his side. IND vs NZ will be played on November 15, 2023, at Wankhede Stadium.
Over the past few weeks, his team has transformed into an unstoppable force vanquishing everyone on its path to glory. But, in Wednesday's World Cup semifinal against New Zealand, India skipper Rohit Sharma also wants "luck to favour" his squad. (Streaming | Scorecard | Preview | Full Coverage)
"Time has come for luck to favour you and fortune favours the brave," Rohit said on the eve of the big-ticket game.
Rohit said the hosts will not be required to make big changes in regards to their mindset and approach just because they are headed into the semifinal clash.
India have been the most dominant team in this World Cup having won all their nine league matches to finish at the top of the points table and will face the Kiwis at the Wankhede Stadium in the first semifinal.
"I don't think we need to do anything different than what we have been doing," Rohit told the media here before India's only training session ahead of the semifinal game.
The captain said pressure has always been a part of the journey for them as Indian cricketers and it will be no different when they will take the field for the semifinal.
"Be it a league match or semifinal, the pressure is always there in a World Cup match. We have handled it well from the first game to the last. The team has responded well," Rohit said.
"We are focusing on playing good cricket in the next two games. Pressure is always there on us as Indian cricketers. The need is to focus on the game and not on the pressure and challenges from the other side," he added.
Rohit has respect for New Zealand whom he described as probably the "most disciplined" side in the competition, adding that they have a quality of reading the opposition very well.
"New Zealand (are) probably (the) most disciplined team. They play smart cricket, they understand the opposition very well. They understand the mentality of the opposition. They have been very consistent playing semis and finals of all ICC tournaments," Rohit said.
Rohit acknowledged that while the pressure has been there on his side to emulate the feat of the batches of 1983 under Kapil Dev and in 2011 under MS Dhoni, he said the only aspect that the current players are interested in is self-improvement.
"That's the beauty of this team. Half of the guys were not even born when we won the World Cup for the first time. Half of them weren't playing cricket when we won it the last time.
"I don't see them talking about how we won the first or the last World Cup. The focus is on getting better and what we can do to improve. Focus is always on the present," Rohit said.
The second semifinal will be held in Kolkata on Thursday between South Africa and Australia who finished second and third respectively.