David Beckham Meets Virat Kohli, Indian Players Before IND Vs NZ Semifinal In ODI World Cup 2023

Mumbai: Legendary England footballer David Beckham met Virat Kohli and other Indian cricketers Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishan Kishan before the start of their ODI World Cup 2023 semifinal against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium Wednesday. Legendary Sachin Tendulkar too accompanied Beckham.

Both Tendulkar and Beckham are UNICEF’s goodwill ambassadors. Earlier, the Manchester United fame went to Gujarat and will be touring the country to understand the state of the action and contribute towards advocating for child rights and gender equality, which is also the global theme for World Children’s Day 2023.

Beckham, who is currently an owner of Inter Miami in Major League Soccer (the team that stars Argentine World Cup winner Lionel Messi), chatted with Kohli for a brief period and also spent a considerable amount of time with the Indian players.

Earlier this month, the league stage game between World Cup hosts India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium on November 2 witnessed the celebration of ICC’s initiative ‘One Day 4 Children’ and promotion of the #BeAChampion campaign.

The campaign was launched for ‘harnessing the reach of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup to build a better world for every child, and create equal opportunities for girls and boys’, the cricket’s governing body said in a release.

Earlier, India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand. Both India and New Zealand decided to go with the same playing XI that they fielded in their last league match. The 2011 champions India are on an unbeaten run, having won nine matches on the trot while two-time finalists New Zealand were the last team to qualify by finishing fourth place in the league stages.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham(w), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.