ICC World Cup 2023: Mitchell McClenaghan Reacts After Fan Predicts India vs New Zealand WC Final

Published - 11 Aug 2023, 06:17 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 09:39 AM

Mitchell McClenaghan
Mitchell McClenaghan [PC Getty]

With the highly-anticipated ICC World Cup 2023 in less than two months, fans and experts have started making predictions for the tournament. The much-awaited competition is scheduled to be played from October 5 to November 19 in India.

A total of ten teams will be participating in the tournament. A total of 48 games over 46 days will be taking place across ten venues. India are gearing up to host the World Cup alone for the very first time. In the past, they had co-hosted the marquee event thrice.

And recently, former New Zealand pacer Mitchell McClenaghan reacted to a fan’s prediction about the World Cup final. Tagging the left-arm pacer in his tweet, the fan tweeted an India vs New Zealand final in the upcoming World Cup. India and New Zealand have never played against each other in a World Cup final so far.

“Have deep feeling that IND vs NZ will play the final of WC, always respect @BLACKCAPS whenever played against us, @Mitch_Savage, your feelings regarding WC tournament…,” wrote the fan.

Mitchell McClenaghan noticed the tweet and was quick to reply to it as he wrote: “Blackcaps will be there.”

Well, India will definitely be looking to avoid New Zealand in a knockout game in the upcoming tournament. The Black Caps have been a bogey team for the Men in Blue in recent years. New Zealand beat India in the semifinal of the 2019 World Cup before beating them in the final of the World Test Championship in 2021. In the same year, New Zealand had also defeated India in the T20 World Cup.

New Zealand are still waiting for their first-ever World Cup triumph. They made it to the final of the World Cup in the past two editions but ended up losing to Australia and England. The Black Caps will definitely be one of the contenders to win the tournament this year.

New Zealand hoping for Kane Williamson’s return:

Meanwhile, New Zealand will be hoping that their talismanic batsman Kane Williamson recovers in time for the tournament. The star batsman is currently sidelined after suffering a knee injury during IPL 2023 and is trying his best to recover in time.

“If the knee is at a stage where that [playing World Cup] can be a reality, that’s great, but it very much is about getting it right and making sure it is ready to go when that time comes -whenever that time is. You do have some good days, then you have a few variable ones. It’s all part of the journey, it’s hard to get too far ahead of yourself,” Williamson recently said.

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