England legend Harmison has "horrible feeling" over India's World Cup chances

14 November 2023 , 19:57

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India went unbeaten in the group stage of the Cricket World Cup (Image: Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images)

India have enjoyed a brilliant run of form at the Cricket World Cup, with the host nation now heading into the semi-finals as strong favourites after going unbeaten in the group stage.

Rohit Sharma's side won all nine of their games so far in relatively comfortable fashion, but England legend Steve Harmison has a "horrible feeling" that they "might just slip up against New Zealand " in the semi-finals. Harmison believes New Zealand will be India's toughest test yet and if they find a way to beat them they will "blow away" either South Africa or Australia in the final.

Speaking exclusively to Mirror Sport on behalf of OnlineCricketBetting, Harmison said: "This World Cup has been far too long, but I think there's going to be two great semi-finals and a great final. The one team you didn't want to play in the semi-finals is New Zealand because they've come just at the right time and I've got a horrible feeling that there's going to be nobody in Ahmedabad watching the final because India might just slip up against New Zealand.

"They look a formidable outfit when they've got everybody fit, but India haven't had it tough yet. They've played some unbelievable cricket, but their toughest test will probably be against New Zealand.

"If they beat New Zealand then they win the final. I think they'll blow the other two teams away, but this New Zealand team will take some blowing away because they're a good side.

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"It's going to be fascinating to see who wins the South Africa vs Australia game, but if India gets to the final then 130,000 people in Ahmedabad will probably see Rohit Sharma lift the trophy."

Reflecting on the World Cup as a whole, Harmison said he felt it was "ridiculous" how long the tournament has gone on for. "I was in India for three weeks and I was only there for about four rounds of games, but I don't think I've known cricket without this World Cup," he joked.

England legend Steve Harmison believes India "might just slip up" in the semi-finals (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

"It's ridiculous how long it's been! The challenge for the ICC is to find a way of still playing a lot of cricket in a shorter space of time while making sure that the competition is still credible.

"I thought it was a masterstroke to let loose the Champions Trophy qualification halfway through because that saved the competition from three rounds of dead rubbers. You could have had plenty of games where nobody really wanted to be there anymore and I think that tells you a lot.

"Six or seven games of a pool before the first knockout stage is probably enough. There wasn't a lot of great cricket played at the start, there wasn't very many close games and there were a lot of big margins of victory. The surfaces were okay, one or two were quite challenging, but I think overall the best sides are in the knockouts."

Matthew Cooper