A hilarious video has gone viral on Thursday in which the India captain Rohit Sharma got hit by a football on his shoulder during India’s warm-up session ahead of the semi-final against New Zealand at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
In a repeat of the 2019 World Cup semi-final in Manchester, India, and New Zealand meet again for the World Cup 2023 semi-final. This time, India are even bigger favorites given they won all their 9 games in the league round while New Zealand won 5 matches. But come the knockouts, it’s all refreshed for both teams.
Some time before toss at the Wankhede stadium in the semi-final, Rohit Sharma got a surprise hit on his right shoulder by a football. A video of the same has gone viral. A fan clipped it off the broadcaster.
In the video, Rohit seems to be watching someone on the ground when suddenly a football gets hurled toward him. His reflex reaction is to take his face away and the ball hit on his shoulder. The football bounces off his shoulder and thankfully it doesn’t hurt his face.
Watch: Rohit Sharma gets hit by a football ahead of IND vs NZ semi-final
😠pic.twitter.com/evWKOM5CSE
— Mufadaal Vohra (@musafir_tha_yr) November 15, 2023
Rohit won the toss in the semi-final against New Zealand and elected to bat first at the Wankhede stadium. Both India and New Zealand are going with unchanged teams.
Teams:
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham(w), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Rohit Sharma said: “We are gonna bat first. Looks like a good pitch. I think it was back in 2019 when we played the semis. NZ is one of the most consistent sides. Looks like on the slower side [the pitch]. Whatever we do, we need to do well. Very important day. It is about controlling the controllables. Constantly, talking about how important it is about turning up on that day.”
India had defeated New Zealand earlier in the tournament, but a semi-final, as it proved in 2019, is a different challenge than a group game.
