ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: India vs New Zealand Sets Live Streaming World Record With 4.3 Crore Viewers

India recorded a convincing four-wicket win over New Zealand — their first over the Black Caps in an ICC tournament since 2003 — to climb to the top of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 table on Sunday. Handing New Zealand their first defeat of the tournament, India have now won five games on the trot at the World Cup, looking strong favourites to lift the trophy for the first time since 2011. Rohit Sharma and co. chased down a target of 274 with 12 balls to spare, courtesy an emphatic 95 from Virat Kohli. In the process, the match also set a new world record for live streaming, with Disney+ Hotstar recording 4.3 crore live concurrent viewers.

Disney+ Hotstar owns the digital streaming rights for the ongoing World Cup and, according to the streamer, 4.3 crore live concurrent viewers tuned in on Sunday to watch India versus New Zealand. This marks a new world record for streaming, breaking the previous record set by the India versus Pakistan match on October 14.

Hosts India and 2019 World Cup finalists New Zealand were the only two undefeated sides at the tournament heading into the match, with the Black Caps sitting top of the table on the basis of a higher net run rate. While New Zealand fielded an unchanged side from their win over Afghanistan, India made two changes. Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami came in for the injured Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur.

India won the toss and put New Zealand to bat, who set up a total of 273 with the help of Daryl Mitchell’s 130 off 127 balls, with Shami taking five wickets in the process. While Kohli narrowly missed out on another century, his 95 helped India reach 274 with two overs remaining.

The India versus Pakistan match on October 14 also set a global streaming record when over 3.5 crore live concurrent viewers tuned in on Disney+ Hotstar to see the much-awaited clash. The streamer holds the streaming rights for the World Cup in India and is also offering new viewing features for the tournament in association with the ICC. Its new MaxView feature allows cricket fans to watch matches in portrait mode on their smartphones, with ICC providing a dedicated vertical feed.