Team India’s explosive performance continues at the 2024 U19 World Cup. On Tuesday, the Indian team defeated New Zealand by a huge margin of 214 runs thanks to Musheer Khan’s brilliant century (131 runs) and Saumya Pandey’s deadly bowling (4 wickets). This is the Indian team’s fourth consecutive win in the tournament.
The Indian team posted a strong score of 295 runs for eight wickets thanks to the innings of 131 runs from Musheer and 52 runs from opener Adarsh Singh. In response, the New Zealand team scored just 81 runs in 28.1 overs in front of the sharp bowling of left-arm spinners Pandey (four wickets for 19 runs) and Musheer (two wickets for 10 runs) and fast bowler Raj Limbani (two wickets for 17 runs). Limited to runs.
Limbani dismissed Tom Jones (00) and Snehit Reddy (00) on the first and fifth balls of New Zealand’s innings respectively, after which Pandey sent Lachlan Stackpole (05) and James Nelson (10) to the pavilion, raising New Zealand’s score to 22. Caught four wickets on runs and the team never recovered from these setbacks. Captain Oscar Jackson was the team’s top scorer with 19 runs.
India once again appear to be a strong contender for the title in this competition. This is New Zealand’s third worst defeat and third lowest score in terms of runs. Earlier, on the batting-friendly Mengong Oval pitch, Musheer destroyed the New Zealand bowling attack and became the first batsman to cross the 300-run mark in the ongoing competition.
Musheer played an innings of 131 runs in 126 balls with the help of 13 fours and three sixes. Musheer hit shots around the wicket and also scored a lot of runs while running. He managed to bat aggressively in the last few overs too. However, India’s start was not good. The team quickly lost the wicket of Arshin Kulkarni (09), who had scored in the last game. After that, Musheer and Adarsh ended the innings by adding 77 runs for the second wicket.
Adarsh seemed in good form right from the start. However, in the 18th over, he was caught by Oliver Tewatia while trying to drive the ball outside the off side off Jack Cumming (1 wicket for 37 runs). This left-handed opening batsman faced 58 balls and hit six fours.
Indian captain Uday Saharan (35 runs in 57 balls, two fours) was unable to take advantage of the good start. He had scored three consecutive half-centuries before this game. However, Saharan along with Musheer added 87 runs for the third wicket and set the stage for India’s big score.
India lost wickets at regular intervals in the final overs and the team failed to cross the 300-run mark. After completing his century, Musheer fell victim to Mason Clarke in the 48th century. Clarke took four wickets for 64 runs.
