Ahead of Indias ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal match against New Zealand, former Indian opener Virender Sehwag advised the Men in Blue to play fearlessly without worrying about the result.Play fearlessly and give your best. Do not worry about the result. If 11 players give their best, they will win, said Sehwag to the media at the ICC Hall of Fame event in Mumbai, where he was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.India vs New Zealand with billion hearts set on World Cup 2023 victoryAt Mumbais Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, India and New Zealand will play in the first semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. India will be hoping to overcome the knockout stage, which has prevented them from winning a major ICC trophy since 2013, and that too against a team that has caused them the greatest problems in crucial games, while the Kiwis will be hoping to make it to their third consecutive World Cup final after 2015 and 2019.Even though the former opener believed that luck cannot always be relied upon, some luck is necessary in elimination games.You have to play well. You cannot depend on luck all the time. But in knockouts, you need a bit of luck. Against Pakistan in 2011, we defended 260 because we had luck and the bowlers also bowled well. India is playing great cricket, but it would be better if we get a bit of luck too, said Sehwag.Sehwag lauded skipper Rohit Sharma for his blistering form in the World Cup, which has seen him attacking the bowlers right from the start and setting a foundation for other batters to come, take their time and dominate the match.He has been doing it for a long time (playing aggressively). Now that he is a captain, he is taking a lot of responsibility to score runs and give India fine starts. The way he is taking care of Shubman Gill is also amazing, said Sehwag.On the future of ODI cricket and whether the overs in a game need to be reduced, the opener said, Absolutely not. If one wants to play shorter formats, he can play T20s.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. (With ANI inputs)
