Vaibhav Tripathi
An all-around performance from Musheer Khan (131 & 2/10) and a magical spell from Saumy Pandey (4/19) helped India U19 kickstart their Super Six round in style with a 214-run victory over New Zealand U19 at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein. With this win, they move one step closer to a place in the semi-finals.
In a mere 28.1 overs, the Kiwis were all out for 81, clearly overshadowed by the Indians across all the facets of the game. In pursuit of a challenging target of 296 for a victory, New Zealand faced early setbacks with Tom Jones and Snehith Reddy departing in the first over. This downfall was initiated by a spectacular spell of swing bowling from Raj Limbani, setting the tone for the rest of the innings.
The decision to pair Saumy as the opening bowling partner with Limbani proved effective. Not a single batter managed to surpass the score of 20. Captain Jackson emerged as the highest scorer with just 19 runs, highlighting the struggle of the New Zealand batters against the formidable onslaught delivered by the Indian bowling unit.
Bowling first after winning the coin toss, New Zealand managed to dismiss Arshin Kulkarni, who had scored a century in his previous match, early in the innings. However, the partnership for the second wicket proved challenging for them. Adarsh played some exquisite strokes early on, supported well by Musheer, as they collectively added 50 runs.
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Adarsh reached his second fifty in the competition in just 57 balls. Soon after scoring his fifty, Adash couldn’t continue as he was dismissed for 52, which marked the end of a 77-run second wicket partnership. Captain Uday Saharan joined the well-set Musheer, and together they forged a partnership for the third wicket. Both batters rotated the strike well with a few boundaries coming in the middle overs, keeping the Kiwis at bay.
While the New Zealand spinners bowled decently in the middle overs, they failed to make significant breakthroughs as India maintained a smooth progression. Musheer reached his fifty in 61 balls, and the partnership was flourishing for India. However, against the flow of the game, skipper Uday attempted a slog-sweep and top-edged it to a fielder at mid-wicket. In the 37th over, Oliver Tewatiya ended the 87-run stand by dismissing Saharan for 34.
Following this, the quartet of Aravelly-Avanish Rao, Priyanshu Moliya, Sachin Dhas, and Abhishek Murugan contributed 46 runs in 47 deliveries. Musheer continued to accumulate runs at great pace for his team and soon completed his second century in this U19 World Cup edition. After reaching the milestone, he unleashed some powerful shots towards the end of the innings. Although India lost their way a bit, with none of the lower middle-order firing, they still got close to a target of 300.