India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma back on the field after injury scare

India captain Rohit Sharma walked off the field due to an injury sustained while diving during fielding in the World Cup 2023 group match against New Zealand in Dharamsala. It appeared that he may have injured his fingers, and his departure from the field was accompanied by visible disappointment. In Rohit’s absence, KL Rahul assumed the role of leading the team on the field. However, Rohit returned to the field in the 13th over and took over the captaincy from Rahul.

World Cup 2023, IND v NZ Updates

Earlier, Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first, continuing a streak of five consecutive games where India has chosen to chase. In the initial five overs, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj put New Zealand under pressure, and Siraj dismissed the dangerous Kiwi opener Devon Conway in the fourth over.

During the first 10 overs, the Indian fast bowlers remained relentless, and Mohammed Shami made an impact by dismissing Will Young with his very first ball of the World Cup. To address the absence of the injured Hardik Pandya, India included Mohammed Shami and Suryakumar Yadav in the lineup, while Shardul Thakur was left out.

“We’ll bowl first. No reason, we were here training yesterday and felt a bit of dew comes in. Looks like a good pitch, we’ll back ourselves to chase. Quite important to keep the momentum going, forget what happened in the past. Need to be at it all the time. This is one place everyone wants to come and play, beautiful weather and nice stadium. Hardik isn’t available, so even Shardul misses out. We’ve got Shami and Surya coming in,” Rohit said.

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham (captain), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult