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Picture Credit: AFP

The wounds of the ICC 2019 World Cup semifinal defeat to New Zealand are fresh in the hearts and minds of Indian fans. While Team India seemed favourites to reach the finals especially after they had restricted the Kiwis to 239/8, the Men in Blue suffered a dramatic batting collapse in the first few overs which set the tempo of the game in the Kiwis favour. Moreover, the Virat Kohli-led side was put under pressure and struggled to get any momentum whatsoever in the initial stage of the innings.

Two years later, at the ICC World Test Championship final against the same opponent, India have made a comparatively better start. Moreover, Dinesh Karthik, who was a member of the Indian XI in that World Cup semifinal, is currently a commentator for this match and recalled India’s infamous defeat. He remembered that India has in fact scored more runs in the first six overs of this Test match than they did in that 50-overs contest.

10/3 at Manchester vs 16/0 in Southampton

While India were 10/3 during that run chase in Manchester, the openers batted over 20 plus overs here at Southampton and managed to see off the new ball. In addition, they were at 16/0 at the six-over stage. The match is brilliantly poised at the moment with session 1 ending at 69/2.

It remains an equally important game for both the teams while Team India would look to avenge their defeat of that semifinal, the Kiwis do not have happy memories of an ICC final after they narrowly lost the World Cup final in 2019 owing to a boundary-count rule.