India survive scare to beat USA in New York and seal Super 8 spot
India secured a place in the next round of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 with a nervy seven-wicket win over tournament co-hosts USA in the final match to be held at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.
An almighty upset looked on the cards when the world’s top-ranked T20I side slipped to 10/2 chasing 111, with star openers Virat Kohli (0) and Rohit Sharma (3) both dismissed early by Saurabh Netravalkar.
But India’s middle order held their nerve on a tricky surface, chipping away at the total, with Suryakumar Yadav playing the starring role with a match-winning half-century, having been given a let-off when dropped by Netravalkar.
Rishabh Pant’s 18 from 20 balls helped lay the platform, with Shivam Dube (31*) playing a good hand to help Sky seal the win with ten balls to spare.
India beat USA to secure second round berth | Match Highlights | USA v IND | T20WC 2024
The story of India’s successful chase
Faced with a target of 111, India’s innings suffered a big early setback as Virat Kohli departed for a golden duck off just the second delivery of the innings to give the American side hope of pulling off another huge upset.
It was a beautiful delivery from USA bowler Saurabh Netravalkar, angling away from Kolhi and drawing the edge in trademark fashion.
And Netravalkar bagged a second huge scalp when he had India captain Rohit Sharma caught by Harmeet Singh at deep mid-off for 3(6).
Saurabh Netravalkar's opening spell saw the back of Virat Kohli, for a golden duck, and Rohit Sharma.
India recovered through Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav to stabilise the chase, scoring at a hugely uncharacteristically slow pace but doing the job that their side needed in the situation.
But the game remained in the balance when Ali Khan cleaned up Pant (18 from 20) to leave India three down and still requiring 72 to win.
Ali Khan sent Rishabh Pant back at a crunch time in the game.
And the Americans could have put India under big pressure had Netravalkar held on to a chance on the boundary to remove danger-man SKY.
However, that opportunity went down and with it went the lingering USA hopes, who were also penalised five runs for a stop clock violation – the first time such a penalty has been handed out in the game.
USA were fined five penalty runs for exceeding sixty seconds between overs thrice.
SKY and Shivam Dube built their way towards the target, accelerating as their partnership grew to wrap up the win with ten balls remaining.
Sky ended with 50* from 49 balls, with Dube ending on 31* from 35.
Despite the disappointment of dropping that chance, Netravalkar was the star for USA once again, finishing with excellent figures of 2/18 from 4 overs.
USA posted 110/8 in New York against India after being 3 for 2 at one point.
USA post 110/8 in first innings
Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bowl first against the USA in New York, picking the same XI that beat Pakistan last time out.
And it was Arshdeep Singh who made the early inroads, picking up two Powerplay wickets to remove Shayan Jahangir (0) and Andries Gous (2).
Arshdeep Singh struck with the first ball of the game against USA, curving the ball back into the right-hander.
India bowled just three overs of spin in the innings, all from Axar Patel, who was relatively expensive with his 1/25 from three overs.
Arshdeep and Hardik Pandya were the main wicket-takers for India, with Hardik taking 2/14 from his four excellent overs and Arshdeep ending with remarkable figures of 4/9 from his four.
Their efforts helped restrict USA to 110/8, leaving India with a target of 111 to seal a spot in the Super 8 stage.
The fielding effort was outstanding for India too, with Mohammed Siraj taking a blinder to prise out Nitish Kumar, and Rishabh Pant holding on to a steepling effort to remove Corey Anderson.
Mohammed Siraj jumped backwards to pluck a stunning catch near the ropes in the game against USA in New York.
USA were without skipper Monank Patel due to injury, meaning that Aaron Jones stepped into the captaincy role, and it was Jones (11) who helped USA recover in a slow and steady partnership with Steven Taylor to help establish something of a platform for the host nation.
Faced with a pace-heavy approach from India, USA looked to use the pace to clear the ropes at the Nassau County venue, and slammed six maximums in the innings to keep up some sort of momentum on the sticky New York wicket.
USA batters clubbed six sixes in their innings in New York against India.
Taylor (24 from 30) and Nitish Kumar (27 from 23) did much of the damage, before Corey Anderson (15), Harmeet Singh (10) and Shadley van Schalkwyk (11) helped boost the USA to triple figures and what turned out to be a competitive score at 110/8.
Arshdeep Singh won the Player of the Match award for his four-wicket haul against USA.
Despite the result, the match was another example of USA’s quality against the world’s best, and they remain in with a good chance of joining India in the Super 8.
The Americans were worthy winners over Canada in the tournament opener, and pulled off the shock of the World Cup with their outstanding victory against Pakistan last week – a match that caused shockwaves around the sporting world.
And they will guarantee a top two finish and a place in the next round should they beat Ireland in Lauderhill on Friday
‘Out of this World’ by Sean Paul and Kes: The official ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 anthem