Nearly two hours before the New Zealand team bus made its way through Marine Drive amid the blaring police sirens, the four bigwigs of Team India’s support staff, led by Rahul Dravid, left the Wankhede Stadium following a close inspection of the wicket.
While the Indian players drove to the Trident Hotel on Nariman Point, the support staff came straight from the airport on arriving from Bangalore in a chartered flight. They were joined by chief curator Ramesh Mhamunkar, who was grilled by bowling coach Paras Mhambrey during the 15 minutes of interaction.
The smattering of fans outside the Vinoo Mankad gate hardly noticed Dravid and Co. whizz past them in a white Innova. They had been waiting patiently to see a Virat Kohli or a Rohit Sharma and only had a half-hearted roar reserved for Kane Williamson’s men.
Having lost in the knockouts of the last two ICC tournaments during his tenure, Dravid is not willing to take any chances. He knows that New Zealand have a sense of occasion and the outcome of the league match in Dharamsala will have no real impact on the semi-final.
Don’t rule out any of the batters from replicating a Glenn Maxwell classic at the Wankhede on Wednesday. Three of the previous four matches here have recorded 350-plus totals by the side batting first while Australia chased down 292 within 46.5 overs in the last outing.
Wednesday’s semi-final will be played on a different wicket though, the one used for the South Africa-Bangladesh tie last month. The pacers will love the bounce and the carry as the Indian pace trio had shown during the match against Sri Lanka.
But the batting could decide the outcome. The first 15 overs in both the innings could have an impact on which way the match would go. New Zealand will love the conditions with Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell capable of posing enough threat.
Dew won’t be much of a factor as has been noticed and there will be lateral movement in the second session too. That will mean good news for the Trent Boults and the Jasprit Bumrahs.
Matt Henry, who played a significant role in the semi-final of the last edition at Manchester, won’t be around because of an injury but Lockie Ferguson isn’t losing hope.
“Matt Henry is obviously a big hole in our side but we’re still a handsome bunch without him,” Ferguson said on Monday.
“Obviously pretty disheartened with how Matt exited the World Cup, which was such a shame. But now from a cricket point of view, Tim Southee brings a lot of experience obviously being captain of the Test team, captain in T20s and one-dayers too, so I think that experience counts for a lot.”
New Zealand will play their fifth consecutive 50-over World Cup semi-final on Wednesday with the prospect of taking part in their third final on the trot.
Ferguson attributed such consistency to the team’s level-headed quality.
“When we start the competition, much like every other team, we’re here to win it, but of course we know there’s a process.
"We sort of stick to our processes and I know it sounds cliched, but I think it keeps us sort of level-headed and naturally as Kiwis, we tend to stay where our feet are, which I think is a positive,” Ferguson said.
India have lost their two semi-finals at the Wankhede in ICC tournaments — 1987 vs England in the 50-over format and against West Indies in the 2016 T20 World Cup.
No wonder Dravid is staying cautious.
