India recorded an impressive but hard-fought seven-wicket win over the United States of America in the 28th match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in New York on Wednesday, June 12. With a win, India secured the Super 8 qualification with a game in hand in Group A.
New York's Nassau County International Stadium produced another low-score fixtures with bowlers from both teams dominating batters. Arshdeep Singh produced the best figures for India in tournament history by taking four wickets for nine to restrict the co-hosts to 110 while bowling first.
India lost both openers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma early in the powerplay but Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube produced a match-defining 67-run stand for the fourth wicket to chase down a target with ten balls remaining. Suryakumar top-scored with 50* off 49 balls and Dube added 31* runs after struggling for big shots.
Rohit fielded the same playing eleven for the third consecutive match after winning the crucial toss. The USA were forced to start without a captain Monak Patel who suffered a shoulder niggle and was replaced by Shayan Jahangir.
Arshdeep dismissed Jahangir on the very first ball of the game and then removed the wicketkeeper batter Andries Gous in the same over to give India a perfect start. The USA batters struggled to get out of the early pressure and failed to produce any meaningful partnerships.
Nitish Kumar top-scored with 27 runs off 23 balls and the experienced opener Steven Taylor added 24 runs for the USA. Arshdeep claimed four wickets for nine to script history while Hardik Pandya took two for India.
However, India also failed for a strong start once again with Virat Kohli seeing his maiden golden duck in tournament history. In-form Saurabh Netravalkar dismissed Virat on the second ball of the innings and then balanced the game with Rohit's wicket in the third over.
Rishabh Pant scored crucial 18 runs but was not able to convert it into a big knock. Suryakumar and Dube struggled for big shots in the early stages of their innings but were impressive in the last five overs with an unbeaten 67-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Suryakumar registered a brilliant fifty and Dube scored unbeaten 31 runs to lead India to the Super 8 qualification. India will next face Canada in Florida on June 15 while the USA will target a Super 8 spot in their last group-stage match against Ireland in Lauderhill on June 14.
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.
USA playing XI: Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir, Andries Gous (wk), Aaron Jones (c), Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan.
