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India 295 for 8 (Musheer 131, Adarsh 52, Clarke 4-62) beat New Zealand 81 (Jackson 19, Cumming 16, Pandey 4-19, Musheer 2-10) by 214 runs
New Zealand made three changes, leaving out their highest wicket-taker Matt Rowe. Arshin Kulkarni, on the back of a century in the last game, got going with a flick through square leg, but failed to carry on. He rushed down the track to a back-of-a-length Mason Clarke delivery that he looked to flay away but could only manage a top edge that flew to deep third.
Musheer, coming in on the back of 118 and 73 in the previous two games, immediately got going. He started with a ramp off Clarke over the keeper’s head before unfurling a cracking cover drive to quickly move to double figures. Adarsh, meanwhile launched a couple of sparkling drives.
With the conditions ripe for batting, they rotated the strike at every given interval and found the boundaries regularly. India, whose powerplay scores so far this tournament have been 45 for 2, 38 for 1 and 40 for 0, raced to 61 for 1 against New Zealand. New Zealand’s ground fielding was also not up to mark at least in the first ten overs.
Even after the powerplay, New Zealand continued to leak runs with Adarsh taking Oscar Jackson for two fours in an over before reaching his second fifty of the tournament off 56 balls with a clip through square leg for three. The left-hander, however, fell soon after almost against the run of play slicing legspinner Zac Cumming to point to end a run-a-ball 77-run partnership.
Captain Uday Saharan then walked in but failed to get the same momentum going, as the surface started taking some turn. New Zealand employed spin for 25 overs straight and Snehith Reddy, Cumming (1-37) and Oliver Tewatiya (1-43) shone through. Even as Musheer kept the innings chugging along, Saharan struggled.
Musheer was dropped at deep square leg soon after breaching the three-figure mark, but New Zealand managed to restrict India to an extent with Clarke doing the damage finishing with 4 for 62. Musheer fell in the 48th over getting a top edge that was taken at extra cover. India did score 89 runs in the last ten overs but lost five wickets in the process.
If there was any momentum that New Zealand took into their second innings, they lost all of it in Limbani’s first over. In what was a spell of inswinging brilliance, he breached opener Tom Jones’ defences first ball with a nip-backer that left his stumps in a mess. Reddy then shouldered arms first ball and was struck in front, but the umpire adjudged the ball to be going over the stumps. He, however, didn’t last long playing all around a length ball that tailed back in sharply as New Zealand were reduced to 0 for 2 after the first over. That became 13 for 3 when Lachlan Stackpole was cleaned up by Pandey’s arm ball.
It was a procession thereon with none of the New Zealand batters picking any of the bowlers. James Nelson was caught lbw by Pandey for 10 while Naman Tiwari took out Tewatiya. Jackson and Cumming resisted for 40 balls before Musheer took out Jackson with a yorker while Pandey added two more wickets to his tally.
It was fitting that Musheer ended the game, taking out Ewald Schreuder, as New Zealand were taken down comprehensively.
By Ashish Pant
All-round Ahmad extends Pakistan’s unbeaten run
Pakistan 182 for 7 (Ahmad 57*, Dyer 4-35) beat Ireland 181 (McNally 53, Dyer 31, Ubaid 3-31) by three wickets
After Pakistan elected to bowl, Ahmad chipped in with 2 for 37 from his eight overs to help bundle out Ireland for a mere 181. But it wasn’t a smooth chase, and Pakistan lost half their side with just 96 runs on the board. Ahmad, though, stayed firm and took his side over the line with an unbeaten 57.
Pakistan didn’t have a great start either and lost their openers inside the first six overs. Dyer, who had earlier scored an important 31, took care of the middle order, picking up 4 for 31 with his offspin.
But Ahmad was unperturbed. Along with Haroon Arshad, he revived the chase by adding 63 off 75 for the sixth wicket. By the time Ireland got rid of Arshad, Pakistan were just 23 away from the target. They lost another wicket after three runs, but Ahmad was a calming presence in the middle. He reached his half-century in 68 balls and then scored the winning run with 6.2 overs to spare.
West Indies trump Sri Lanka in last-over finish
West Indies (Wedderburn 61, Johnson 39, Lahiru 2-32) beat Sri Lanka 231 (Kalupahana 53, Tharupathi 42, Smith 4-47) by three wickets
West Indies seemed to be cruising at 147 for 2 but Sri Lanka fought back. They picked up four wickets in the next 37 runs. From the last 54 balls, West Indies needed 47 and had two new batters at the crease.
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