29 January,2024 02:35 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Arshin Kulkarni, Musheer Khan (Pic: File Pic)
With three wins to their name, defending champions India will now look to continue their winning momentum against New Zealand. Both teams are all set to clash against each other in the Super Six stage match on Tuesday.
With qualification for the Super Six stage matches, India will also have the advantage of playing at the Mangaung Oval on Tuesday. So far, the "Boys in Blue" secured all their three wins at this stadium.
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New Zealand, on the other hand, moved here from East London and will have to adapt quickly to the conditions. India notched up easy wins against Bangladesh, Ireland and USA. While the record five-time champions struggled a bit with the bat against their Asian rivals in the first game, the 'Boys in Blue' fired on all cylinders in the following two games.
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The best thing about the Indian team is that at least one or two batsmen have taken the responsibility to score runs. Musheer Khan the younger brother of Mumbai's star batsman Sarfaraz Khan has been a consistent performer for the team. Musheer is do far the highest run-getter in the tournament.
Opening batsman Adarsh Singh has not been able to capitalise on the starts he had in the previous two games. Arshin Kulkarni on the other hand will be high on confidence after scoring a century against the USA in the last game. Indian skipper Uday Saharan will look to score impactful runs.
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In the bowling department, left-arm pacer Naman Tiwari has excelled with the ball. After going wicketless against Bangladesh, he has grabbed four wickets each in the following two games.
Left-arm spinner Saumy Pandey has also been impressive, as he looks to attack the stumps with fairly accurate deliveries. With eight scalps so far, he boasts of the second-best economy (2.01) in the tournament.
New Zealand finished second in Group D with two wins from three games. The Kiwi's batting lineup has struggled in the tournament. While they were able to eke out a narrow one-wicket win over Afghanistan while chasing a modest 91, they succumbed to a deflating 10-wicket loss to Pakistan, where they were bowled out for 140.
Against a formidable India line-up, the onus will be on the Kiwi batters to complement the bowling department. Both sides will also keep an eye on their Net Run Rates as each team will carry forward the points and NRR they earned against fellow Super Six qualifying teams.
Squads:
India: Uday Saharan (c), Arshin Kulkarni, Adarsh Singh, Rudra Mayur Patel, Sachin Dhas, Priyanshu Moliya, Musheer Khan, Aravelly Avanish Rao, Saumy Kumar Pandey, Murugan Abhishek, Innesh Mahajan, Dhanush Gowda, Aaradhya Shukla, Raj Limbani and Naman Tiwari.
New Zealand: Oscar Jackson (c), Mason Clarke, Sam Clode, Zac Cumming, Rahman Hekmat, Tom Jones, James Nelson, Snehith Reddy, Matt Rowe, Ewald Schreuder, Lachlan Stackpole, Oliver Tewatiya, Alex Thompson, Ryan Tsourgas, Luke Watson.
Match starts 1:30pm IST.
(With PTI Inputs)
