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.
New Zealand’s ground fielding was not up to mark at least in the first ten overs, and the duo took toll. 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.
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.
More to follow
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo