The United States’ winning streak in the T20 Cricket World Cup came to an end after a seven-wicket defeat to a powerhouse like India in New York.
The tournament’s co-hosts had delivered a shocking Super Over win against Pakistan in their last match but despite another promising performance with bat and ball, they could not repeat the feat against the number one ranked team in the sport.
India won the toss and elected to bat first. The United States fought hard to achieve a target of 110 but were snatched away with 10 balls remaining, handing them their first defeat of the tournament despite dismissing batting star Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma with ease.
What happened in the game?
It was a terrible start for the USA, with opening batsman Shayan Jahangir being run out leg-before-wicket by Arshdeep Singh off the first ball of the match, and the Indian fast bowler then lost his second wicket five balls later when Andries Guth’s pull shot was smashed straight up.
After stand-in captain Aaron Jones, who had scored 141 off 72 balls in the first two matches, was dismissed midway through, Steven Taylor and Nitish Kumar provided vital partnership, scoring 31 runs.
Taylor’s wicket brought Corey Anderson up to bat and his brilliant shots took Nitish’s score close to 100. Nitish’s strong batting on a tough pitch ended with a superb catch by Mohammed Siraj on the boundary before man of the match Arshdeep took his fourth wicket.
It took a brilliant catch from Siraj to remove the dangerous Nitish (Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
Some clever hitting from Harmeet Singh and Shadley van Schalkwyk took the total to three figures and enabled the USA to set India a target of 110.
Their total defence began perfectly when Saurabh Netravalkar, the hero of their Super Over win against Pakistan, got Kohli, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, out for a golden duck in the first over, followed by Rohit. All three players involved in that wicket were from the Indian city of Mumbai, and Harmeet and Sharma had even gone to the same school.
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Ali Khan’s slipping ball slid through Rishabh Pant’s defence to leave India in disarray at 39 for 3. But they regained their composure and Netravalkar felled T20 International batsman Suryakumar Yadav in unforgivable fashion, smashing a Van Schalkwyk ball straight over the top.
Netravalkar’s drop in the 13th over was costly (Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
India were in a good position to win but the US made an unforgivable mistake, costing them five runs, which they were penalised for under a new rule that states a team receives a five-run penalty “if they fail to get a retake three times within one minute in an innings”.
From there, Yadav and Shivam Dube combined to score 67 runs off 66 balls to guide India to victory.
Who was the best American player today?
Canada-born Nitish Kumar was the star of the match batting with 27 runs off 23 balls – only Yadav managed to score more runs at a higher batting average.
And when it came to bowling, Netravalkar was outstanding, conceding just 18 runs in his four overs. The wickets of Kohli and Sharma in the first two overs gave the United States a real chance of victory against one of the strongest teams in the world.
But the loss of Yadav proved costly as a wicket at that stage would have greatly increased India’s chances of producing one of the greatest shocks in cricket history. Netravalkar returned to the attack and, although it took two more close overs, India were now in full control.
Can the U.S. still make it to the next round?
Despite the loss, winning its first two matches puts the U.S. in a strong position to advance to the Super Eight, the tournament’s second eight-team group phase. The U.S. would be guaranteed a spot if games are rained out or if it wins its final group game against Ireland on Friday, a tournament that saw two matches end in draws and no results because of rain.
Sunday’s USA v Ireland and Pakistan v Ireland matches will be played in Lauderhill, Florida, where heavy rain is forecast over the next few days.
Both games were rained out, and if there were no results, the U.S. would advance to the Super Eight.
What’s next?
New supporters of the US cricket team will be happy to hear that there are just two days left until they return to action.
They will travel 1,300 miles up the East Coast to take on the Irish on Friday at Central Broward Park and Broward County Stadium in the Miami suburb of Lauderhill.
If the match goes ahead, it is expected to kick off at 10:30am ET/7:30am PST, with the toss taking place 30 minutes before then.
Important Dates for the T20 World Cup
- America vs Ireland: June 14th (Friday)
- Super Eight Stage: June 20th (Thursday) to June 24th (Monday)
- Semi-finals: Wednesday, June 26th and Thursday, June 27th
- Last: Saturday, June 29th
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(Top photo: Netravalkar celebrates Kohli’s dismissal. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)