In the Australasia Cup in 1986, the first match was played between India and New Zealand on 10th April 1986. The venue for this match was the Sharjah C.A. Stadium. AJ Gaynor (West Indies) and DM Archer (West Indies) were the umpires for this clash. From the Indian side, Chandrakant Pandit made his debut. India won the toss and opted to field. This match was reduced to 44 overs per side. The captain of the Indian team was Kapil Dev Nikhanj and that of the New Zealand team was Jeff Crowe.
New Zealand innings
The opening batsmen of New Zealand were Ken Rutherford and Martin Snedden and they created a partnership of 37 runs. Rutherford was bowled by Maninder Singh on 12. The No. 3 batsman, Martin Crowe was cheaply out on 1. He was trapped leg before wicket by Madan Lal. When the score was 48, Snedden was caught by Sandeep Patil off the bowling of Maninder Singh on a personal score of 26. On the same score of 48, two New Zealand batsmen, Tony Blain and Bruce Blair returned back to the pavilion. Thereafter, Jeff Crowe and John Bracewell showed some resistance and increased the team’s total up to 81. At this juncture, Bracewell was bowled by Ravi Shastri on 25 off 35 balls inclusive of 1 four and 1 sixer. Further, Evan Gray and Gary Robertson were dismissed for 2 and 0 respectively. The scoreboard read 8 for 96. Ervin McSweeney and Jeff Crowe faced the Indian bowling effectively and avoided further dismissals. At the end of 44 overs, Jeff Crowe remained unbeaten on 36 in 56 balls and McSweeney was not out on 18 off 17 balls, inclusive of 2 sixers and 1 boundary. New Zealand accumulated 132 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 44 overs.
India innings
The Indian opening batsman, Sunil Gavaskar was caught by McSweeney off the bowling of Ewen Chatfield for a duck. The No. 3 batsman, Mohammad Azharuddin was caught and bowled by Chatfield for 6. Soon, the other opening batsman Krishnamachari Srikkanth was caught by Blair off the bowling of Chatfield. Due to these dismissals, India was tottering at 3 for 19. Sandeep Patil was bowled by Martin Crowe for 7. The scoreboard read 4 for 25. Thereafter, Ravi Shastri and Kirti Azad steadied the Indian innings. When the score reached 81, Azad was bowled by Bracewell for 30. On the same score, Shastri was stumped by McSweeney off the bowling of Gray for 25. Kapil Dev scored 9 runs but was caught by Blain off the bowling of Snedden when the score was 116. At this stage, Chandrakant Pandit played aggressively and scored 33 runs off 34 deliveries, inclusive of 4 boundaries. In 41.4 overs, India scored 134 runs for the loss of 7 wickets and won the match.
The Man of the Match prize was won by Ewen Chatfield for his bowling performance of 9 overs, 5 maidens, 14 runs and 3 wickets.