Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India] : Former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful feels that India’s stalwart batter Virat Kohli will score the record 50th ton in the ODI against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday at the Wankhede Stadium.
Virat has played exceptionally throughout the World Cup, on numerous occasions he defined his title of “chase master” by pulling the Men in Blue out of tough situations and guiding the team towards victory.
He levelled iconic Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI centuries against South Africa and is just shy of a single ton from surpassing the former star.
Ashraful hailed Kohli’s performance and feels that after missing out on a ton against the Kiwis in the group-stage match, Kohli may score his 50th ODI ton.
“Virat missed out on two centuries, everyone in the team is in good form, in every game Rohit is giving a firing start, Iyer and Rahul are in good form. So I think we may see Virat’s 50th hundred,” Ashraful told .
While talking about his prediction of who could emerge victorious in the highly anticipated semi-final clash, Ashraful predicted that the Blackcaps could emerge victorious against the unbeaten Indian team.
“I feel that New Zealand can beat India so it won’t be easy, India are playing good cricket we are hoping that we will see good cricket,” Ashraful added.
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.