AHMEDABAD: Organisers of the World Cup will hope for a dream start to cricket's 50-over showpiece when defending champions England take on New Zealand at the sprawling Narendra Modi Stadium here on Thursday. The opening game is a rematch of the teams' epic showdown in the 2019 final at Lord's. Interestingly, these same two sides flagged off the 1996 World Cup at the same venue, back when it was known as the Motera.
On Thursday, seven players will be in action from each side who were part of that ultra-exciting final four years ago-which saw tied scores (241 in 50 overs, followed by 15 each in the Super Over), before the winner was decided by the controversial and now-scrapped boundary countback rule. Within months of that controversial verdict, ICC's cricket committee tweaked the rules to decide the winner via multiple Super Overs instead, should the situation arise.
