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It’s fitting that Rachin became New Zealand’s youngest batter to score a World Cup century on Indian soil – his name is a portmanteau for two Indian cricketing legends
New Zealand won the toss and sent England into bat Thursday in a 2019 final rematch to open Cricket World Cup. England star Ben Stokes is skipping the 2023 opener because of a hip strain. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is sidelined owing to insufficient recovery from his knee injury.
BEN STOKES has emerged as an injury doubt for England’s World Cup curtain-raiser against New Zealand on Thursday, with a sore hip placing question marks over his place.
England has a big target on its back heading into the Cricket World Cup. As the defending world champions in both the 50-over and Twenty20 formats, the English are the kings of white-ball cricket and, in theory, the team to beat over the next couple of months — even if India, South Africa and Australia, in particular, might have something to say about that. Eight of the 2019 World Cup-winning squad are back again seeking to defend the title and that experience can be crucial in those tight games which can be a battle of nerves as much as anything else.
No sooner has a dose of World Cup clarity been delivered than England offer up a glimpse into the unknown that lies beyond. Others will be phased out more gradually, and the team that goes to South Africa for the subsequent World Cup four years from now will look markedly different. Fourteen of the World Cup group are resting before flying to India next week, the exception being Joe Root, who will play on his home ground tomorrow at his own request, having felt short of form against New Zealand this month.