The Indian cricket team is ready for the ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal scheduled for November 15th (Wednesday) against New Zealand. Both teams head into the match with a 50/50 chance of victory, showcasing their evenly matched strengths. However, India’s overall tournament performance and growing confidence make them the stronger favorites this time around compared to their 2019 World Cup semi-final encounter.

While India will look to wipe away the pain of Manchester 2019, where they were eliminated from the semis by the New Zealanders, Rohit Sharma’s boys are unlikely to do it with a sense of revenge. It’s more for the purpose of reaching the final than retribution.

That was not the only time the Kiwis had broken India’s heart. Virat Kohli’s men had lost another big final to New Zealand-the 2021 World Test Championship Final.

While there is undeniably a sense of heartache, there’s a noticeable absence of resentment despite an upcoming clash against the same opponents. However, the anxiety of Indian cricket fans is palpable, and it is finding expression on social media through a continuous meme-fest that is anticipated to persist until the conclusion of the semifinal with a positive outcome for Team India.

Social media is abuzz with a plethora of memes, fact sheets, and score-comparing statistics as fans gear up for the highly anticipated India vs. New Zealand semi-final clash. Fans are eagerly sharing their predictions and analyses, creating a lively and engaging online atmosphere.

We are sharing some of the interesting ones here for you:
 

Virat and Rohit scores in ODI world Cup semifinals
Virat Kohli Rohit sharma
9(21) in 2011, Not played 2011
1(13) in 2015 34(48) in 2015
1(6) in 2019 1(4) in 2019
Batting avg : 3.66 Batting avg: 17.50#INDvsNZ

— light_tesukoo_mowa (@light_tesukoo) November 13, 2023

we’ll be there no matter what ?#INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/XTwkpeKEas

— rea (@reaadubey) November 14, 2023

I don’t want to watch this hell again.#INDvNZ #Semifinals pic.twitter.com/OabwT85b4s

— CrickFlicks (@CrickFlicks) November 13, 2023

One sleep away ?#INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/TC4o1elZZj

— Jaanvi? (@that_shutterbug) November 14, 2023

Time For Revenge ? #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/weyxEwY4Gb

— Shivam ? (@shivammm_) November 13, 2023

Scenes before India vs New Zealand.#INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/nTf8ONlDfE

— Rajabets ??? (@smileagainraja) November 13, 2023

The anxiety stems from the fact that India has faced defeat in their past four knockout matches against New Zealand in various formats. But India’s fans will be banking on the fact that in the last three ODI World Cups, New Zealand has been eliminated by the country hosting the tournament.

Two months after she was discharged from a hospital, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is shifting to Jaipur temporarily till the air quality improves in Delhi. Ms Gandhi suffers from respiratory problems and doctors have advised her to temporarily move to a place where the air quality is better. 

The Air Quality Index for Delhi on Tuesday was 375, which is in the ‘severe’ category, while the figure for Jaipur was 72, which is in the ‘moderate’ category, according to private air quality monitoring website aqi.in.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is addressing rallies in various states where the assembly elections will be held later this year, will visit Ms Gandhi in Jaipur on Tuesday night before heading to Chhattisgarh on Wednesday. He will go back to Jaipur and continue with his scheduled rallies in the state on Thursday.

Ms Gandhi had been admitted to Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in September after showing symptoms of fever and had been discharged a day later. She had also been admitted to a hospital in January because of respiratory issues.

This is not the first time that the former Congress president has had to move to another city to avoid the pollution in Delhi. In the winter of 2020, Ms Gandhi had gone to Goa on the advice of her doctors. 

Scientists in China have created a chimera (mixed) monkey with distinctive features like green eyes and glowing fingertips. According to a CNN report, the primate has been created using two sets of DNA, something that is still experimental that they say could ultimately benefit medical research and conservation of species. The lab-born monkey survived for 10 days after which it was euthanised, the outlet further said. The research detailing the process of how the monkey was created has been published in journal Cell.

The primate was created using an unprecedented experiment, by combining the stem cells of two genetically distinct fertilized eggs from the same monkey species – a long-tailed macaque.

It was the world’s first live birth of a chimeric – or mixed – monkey with stem cells, CNN quoted the researchers as saying.

“It is encouraging that our live birth monkey chimera had a big contribution (of stem cells) to the brain, suggesting that indeed this approach should be valuable for modeling neurodegenerative diseases,” the outlet quoted study co-author Miguel Esteban, principal investigator at the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, as saying.

“Monkey chimeras also have potential enormous value for species conservation if they could be achieved between two types of nonhuman primate species, one of which is endangered. If there is contribution of the donor cells from the endangered species to the germ line, one could envisage that through breeding animals of these species could be produced,” he added.

The animal contained varying but relatively high ratio of cells that grew out of the stem cells.

The scientists said the presence of donated stem cells ranged from a low of 21 per cent all the way up to 92 per cent. The highest percentage was seen in brain tissues, according to Science Alert.

Chimeric mice were first created in the 1960s and have been commonly used in biomedical research.