Coach Dravid backs India's 'vibe and energy' ahead of World Cup semi-final

India coach Rahul Dravid says he backs the vibe and energy in his team as they plot ICC World Cup 2023 semifinal revenge over New Zealand on Wednesday Four years ago New Zealand defeated India in the lastfour by just 18 runs in a game which stretched across two days due to rain That loss extended Indias wait for a third World Cup title after 1983 and their 2011 triumph on home ground Five of the men who featured in the 2019 semifinal in Manchester Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli KL Rahul Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja will play in Mumbai on Wednesday When its going well it looks good One loss and everyone says you dont know anything said Dravid on Sunday after India trounced Netherlands by 160 runs to complete a perfect group stage of nine wins in nine matches I think we will be inauthentic if we say its just another game Yes of course its the semifinal but I think our processes and what we have done in each and every game is not going to change There is going to be certain amount of pressure but I think the way we have responded to the pressure so far gives us lot of belief and lot of confidence I am confident of the vibe and energy in the group In 2019 India were set a modest target of 240 to beat New Zealand but they lost their last four wickets for just 13 runs There was no shortage of runs on Sunday as all of Indias top five batsmen scored 50 and aboveAlso ReadThe unbeatables underdogs and everything in betweenSkipper Rohit Sharma made 61 with Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli both hitting 51 before a 208run stand followed between Shreyas Iyer 128 not out and KL Rahul 102 which steered the team to 4104 I think our middleorder has been fantastic Dravid told broadcasters Star Sports Obviously the toporder is the one that gets to bat all the time and has been scoring a lot of runs for us and look at the leaderboard on numbers youll see the Kohlis and the Sharmas and rightly so batting fantastically He added For them to be batting the way the they are whether its been Shreyas whether its been KL and even Jaddu Ravindra Jadeja even Surya Suryakumar Yadav just gives us that confidence that we have got that experience We have got that ability and we have also got them in form and playing really well getting to the semifinal Kohli leads the tournament batting charts with 594 runs followed by South Africas Quinton de Kock 591 Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand 565 and Rohit 503 Iyer who came into Sundays game on the back of scores of 82 and 77 now has 421 runs at a strikerate of over hundred He battled cramps in a 94ball innings laced with 10 fours and five sixes to be named man of the match I got a deja vu this happened with Australia too and I threw my wicket away Today I wanted to be not out said Iyer who returned to the team in September after recovering from a back injury I took pills for the cramps I feel the recent scores helped me in this inningsWith agency inputs