Satya Nadella late at Microsoft event due to India vs NZ semifinal World Cup match? Internet thinks so
Satya Nadella
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a known cricket lover, has revealed that he ended up watching the India vs New Zealand World Cup semifinal late in the night, hours ahead of his keynote address at the company's Ignite 2023 developer conference.
A video clip of the event going viral on social media shows Nadella mentioning that his team was not aware that they scheduled the keynote on the same day as the World Cup knockout match.
“Little did we know when we scheduled Ignite that we will schedule it on the same day when there is the World Cup semi-final going on, in cricket," said a grinning Nadella.
“And I’ve been up all night, but it finished five minutes ago.I am glad it did. This is the short version of the game, by the way,” he added.
Some eagle-eyed users on social media noted that the keynote address had started a bit late and guessed that it might have been due to Nadella watching the match.
“Did the #MSIgnite keynote starta few minutes late because Satya Nadella was watching the cricket?" said one user.
Nadella - a big cricket buff
Notably, this is not the first time Nadella has professedhis love for cricket. In several interviews, Nadella has highlighted that he played cricket as part of his school team.
Such has been Nadella's passion for the sport that the Microsoft campus inRedmond, Washington, now has an actual oval-shaped cricket ground.
World Cup 2023: IN PICS - Five top moments from India's stunning victory against South Africa
Batting first in the semifinal in front of a packed Wankhede stadium crowd in the western city of Mumbai, India managed to put a daunting 397-run total on the board. Riding on a record-breaking century from Virat Kohli, who eclipsed Sachin Tendulkar's 49 ODI centuries record, India managed to bat the Kiwis out of the match.
Apart from Kohli, Shreyas Iyer also smashed his consecutive century of the World Cup before Mohammed Shami turned up in the second innings and picked up a career-best seven wickets to dismantle the opposition.
In the end, India won the contest by 70 runs to set up a date with destiny at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday (Nov 19).
(With inputs from agencies)