The Indian U-19 team continued their victorious run in the ICC Men's Under-19 cricket World Cup 2024 and defeated New Zealand by 214 runs in a Super Six clash on Tuesday in Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein. India strengthened their hold as table-toppers in Group 1 of the Super Six with a big victory against the Kiwis. (More Cricket News)
The decision to bowl first after winning the toss backfired for New Zealand, as India first set a 296-run target thanks to Musheer Khan's second ton of the tournament and then restricted them to 81 all-out in 28.1 overs. Adarsh Singh also contributed with 52 runs off 58 balls.
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Musheer Khan played beautifully and dominated New Zealand after his batting came early in the fifth over. Indian innings revolved around Khan (131 off 126 balls), who was involved in two crucial partnerships that set the tone of his innings. He first added 77 runs with Adarsh Singh for the second wicket then 87 runs with Uday Saharan for the third wicket.
Captain Uday Saharan (34 off 57) and Aravelly Avanish (17 off 18) played crucial cameos in the middle and gave good support to Khan. New Zealand's Mason Clarke stood out of the bowlers and took four wickets. No other bowler looked confident. New Zealand missed Matt Rowe, who claimed fifer against Afghanistan, in both departments.
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When New Zealand came to start the chase, Indian pacer Raj Limbani struck early and took two wickets in the first over. He bowled Tom Jones on the second delivery of his first over and then removed Snehith Reddy on the fifth delivery. New Zealand never settled after these early wickets.
Saumy Pandey was introduced early in the attack and again proved to be the best bowler of the Indian outfit. He took a four-fer in the match. He completely destroyed the inexperienced Kiwi middle-order. Arshin Kulkarni also took a wicket. Musheer Khan put the final nail in the coffin and bowled the last batter to win the match by 214 runs for India.
Musheer was given the Player of the Match award for his all-round performance. Apart from making a century in bating, he also grabbed a brace in bowling. In his award acceptance speech, he congratulated his elder brother Sarfaraz Khan who got selected in the national side for the second Test match against England in Visakhapatnam.
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"My brother called me yesterday and he said that he has been selected in the Indian squad for the second Test. I focus on the process and focus on bowling in tight areas", said Khan.
Earlier, Indian captain Uday Saharan escaped an injury scare when the ball hit his face while fielding practice during the warm-ups in the innings break. He gave an update about his injury during the post-match presentation and said he was fine.
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"I was trying to catch a ball and it hit me on my face. We are performing very well and we are playing with a good mindset. We executed our plans and Musheer played a really good innings. I don’t need to motivate the guys, we all are in a good frame of mind and everyone is playing their role perfectly. Raj bowled very well and we knew that spinners would get good assistance from the surface", said Saharan.
India will play Nepal in their next Super Six match on Friday and New Zealand will clash with Ireland on Saturday at the same venue.
