Happy underdogs New Zealand promise ‘scrap’ against India

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters): New Zealand are at peace with their underdog status and are preparing for a “scrap” in Tuesday’s World Cup semi-final against India, coach Gary Stead and quick Lockie Ferguson said on Sunday.

New Zealand, the tournament runners-up last time, grabbed the last semi-final berth after a hat-trick of defeats nearly derailed their strong start in the tournament.

“I’m not spending a lot of time worrying about what other people are thinking, whether we should be here or not,” Stead told reporters at Old Trafford.

India topped the group stage with just one defeat while their match against New Zealand in Nottingham was washed out.

Stead said his team would walk out on Tuesday to prove their mettle against a strong Indian side.

“India are a quality team, there’s no doubt. They’ve got match-winners right throughout their line-up. I said right from the very start whoever we play, we going to have to be somewhere near our very best to beat.

“That’s the excitement, that’s the challenge in front of us. Hopefully you’ll see what Kiwis are made of out there as well, that ‘no-die’ attitude and I guess stand up when we need to.”

New Zealand will be bolstered by the return of their leading wicket-taker in the tournament with Ferguson recovering from a tightness in his hamstring.

The quick also felt the underdog status suited his side.

“I guess in World Cups obviously big games get pumped up and where we stand is the fourth going into the semi-finals so naturally I guess they back India,” Ferguson said.

“But as New Zealanders we are often the underdogs and I guess that’s a position we like to be in... it’s knockout cricket now so it’s all on Tuesday and the better team will go through.”

The right-arm paceman said the 2015 finalists had earned their place in the last four with some good cricket and were braced for another characteristic joust against India.

“We’ve played some good cricket to get to the point where we are in a position to play a semi-final and then it all counts on the day so were looking forward to the challenge for sure.