U-19 World Cup: Musheer Khan and Saumy Pandey power India to trounce New Zealand | Cricket News

India have found two heroes in Musheer Khan and Saumy Pandey. Musheer was the standout performer with the bat, scoring his second century in three innings (126-ball 131; 2 for 10), and Pandey was at his incisive best with his left-arm spin, picking up 4 for 19 as they hammered New Zealand 214 runs in their first Super Six match.India posted a massive 295 for 8 after being put into bat before bundling out New Zealand for a paltry 81. It was India’s third straight time of winning a game more than 200 runs and New Zealand’s worst defeat in the Youth ODIs.
Musheer and Pandey have been pivotal in India’s dominance in the tournament. With 325 runs Musheer is leading the highest run-getter chart, while Pandey, the joint leading wicket-taker alongside Pakan’s Ubaid Shah, has scalped 12 wickets with an economy rate of less than two.
A plus Saumy
Saumy Pandey’s coach Aril Anthony says the biggest strength of his ward is his ability to bowl wicket to wicket and not give an inch to the batsmen.
“His intent is unreal. He is a spinner with a mindset of a fast bowler and that’s why you can see a bit of aggression in his bowling,” Anthony told The Indian Express.
Anthony, who has coached the likes of Ishwar Pandey, and Kuldeep Sen, feels the biggest strength of Saumy is his ability to quickly assess the conditions. “He is excellent in reading conditions and situations. It might have something to do with his sharp mind. He is A plus student, has been a topper throughout, and likes science a bit too much, and that you can see in his bowling,” Anthony said.
“People are saying that he only bowls at one trajectory. I disagree with this. If you see him bowling, you can easily point out that he is using the crease every second ball. It is not easy to pick him, he is a wicket-taker and his figures are proof,” he said.
In this tournament, Saumy has bowled 39.5 overs and has given away only 78 runs. He has already been compared to Ravindra Jadeja because of the trajectory he bowls at.
“I hate such comparisons. What Jadeja has achieved is immense. Let him be Saumy Pandey. His real test will come in the knockout games and then when starts bowling with red ball in first-class cricket. He has a long way to go before getting compared with someone of Jadeja’s stature,” said Anthony.
Such has been Saumy’s performance in this tournament that skipper Uday Saharan gave him the new ball against the Kiwis. Raj Limbani had already wreaked havoc in the first over after he removed Tom Jones and in-form Snehit Reddy. Saumy didn’t let down his captain, picking up two wickets with the new ball to leave New Zealand reeling at 22 for 4 in 7.4 overs.
Red-hot Musheer
Musheer Khan has given everyone a glimpse of his elder brother Sarfaraz Khan with the way he is bullying the bowlers in the U-19 World Cup. The ICC on their social media handles also shared a clip, showing the similarity in their batting. Sarfaraz has scored seven fifties in the two U-19 World Cups. And Musheer, a top order batsman became only the second Indian after Shikhar Dhawan to score multiple centuries in the same event.
However, their father Naushad feels the duo are completely different from each other. “Sarfaraz bats at 5 and 6, so there you hardly get time to build the innings. You need to play the situation. Whereas, Musheer has played as an opener, where he has the luxury of taking his time. Musheer has a great ability to shift gears, he can play the anchor role and at the same time can hit sixes at will,” Naushad had said. All of those traits were visible on Tuesday when Musheer scored his second century in three innings.
In four innings, Musheer’s only failure came against Bangladesh, where he managed only three runs. After scoring a century against Ireland in the next match he admitted to being in a “hurry” to score quick runs and decided to give himself “some time”. In his last three knocks, his scores are 118, 73 and 131.
“I want to continue this form in the coming matches. Hitting a century gives you confidence and I want to carry it forward,” Musheer told the broadcasters.
Musheer teed off with a uppercut straight out of Virender Sehwag’s book and once he completed his century he pulled out MS Dhoni’s helicopter shot for a six. Musheer’s knock was studded with 13 fours and three sixes and all those big hits came after he had played 82 balls. He took his time, completing his fifty in 62 balls.
The other impressive aspect of Musheer’s batting has been his ability to build partnerships. He put on a 77-run stand for the second wicket with opener Adarsh Singh (52), and was involved in a 87-run partnership for the third wicket with skipper Uday Saharan (34). He then added 27 runs for the fourth, 38 for the fifth, and 18 for the sixth before he got out to Mason Clarke (4 for 62), who was New Zealand’s pick of the bowlers. Not much went right for New Zealand on a day when India bossed them.