Ahead of the highly anticipated match between India and New Zealand at the World Cup semi-final stage, a major controversy erupted that involved ICC World Cup 2023 official broadcasting partner Star Sports after putting Virat Kohli’s face in the match’s preview poster alongside Kane Williamson.

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This decision of Star Sports of using Kohli’s face instead of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has enraged fans on social media, accusing them of being biased. The argument was that Rohit being the captain should be in the poster standing alongside the New Zealand skipper. 

As a result of all the massive backlash, Start Sport finally replaced Kohli's face with Rohit.

Riding on nine consecutive wins, India will face New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for the first semi-final match tomorrow (15 November). The Rohit Sharma-led side will be playing against the Kiwis once again in a semi-final stage. In the previous edition of the ODI World Cup, New Zealand outplayed India by an 18 run win in semi-final. 

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.

Whereas Australia and South Africa will lock horns in the second semi-final match taking place on 16 November at Eden Garden in Kolkata.