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Former Indian cricketer Chandu Borde said on Tuesday that India looks complete as a team and has an edge over New Zealand due to its all-round performance in the league stage in the ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal clash at Mumbai.
Borde also added that India's high confidence, home audience support and awareness of home conditions will act as plus points for them. "Reaching semis is a good achievement. Both teams will try to reach finals. We are expecting good cricket. From the Indian point of view, the way boys are playing, they are playing confidently. The expectations from the team are very high. In India, cricket is popular so people will be backing them. It appears that India has an edge over New Zealand because of how good they have been all-round but you cannot be complacent in ODI cricket," said Borde to ANI. India will take on New Zealand in the first semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday. While Kiwis will be aiming to reach their third successive World Cup final after 2015 and 2019, India will be looking forward to overcoming the knockout hurdle that has not let them win a major ICC title since 2013 and that too against a team that has given them the most trouble in must-win matches. "The confidence level of the team is high, they are used to the conditions, they are backed by people at home and it has given them confidence, these three factors will be a plus for India and help them do well," added the former player. Borde said that the toss would play a good part in the match. Borde said that the presence of the dew factor and lights in the evening make batting first a better option. "I think toss will play a good part. In the evening, the dew factor plays a part. There are lights as well. So it is better to bat first and put up a good score. One thing I like is the starts that Shubman and Rohit give to the team, and how they do it so aggressively and confidently. The confidence of other players also goes up. But do not forget that NZ has performed well against us. They cannot be taken for granted. NZ has reached the semis, they have also played well. They beat us once," said Borde. "In the evening, the atmosphere becomes heavy and gives a little help to bowlers. An important factor will be to score big," he added. Borde said that another plus point for India is how well its middle-order batters Shreyas Iyer (421 runs) and KL Rahul (347 runs) are batting. "Another plus point is how Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are performing. India is a complete team. Be it in bowling or batting," he said. On his favourite ODI batter from current Team India, Borde said. "Favourite ODI batter is difficult to decide as all are playing well, be it Rohit, Virat, Gill, Iyer, KL etc." India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav. New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitch Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Will Young. (ANI)
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