India crawled to a seven-wicket win against USA to secure their second win of ICC T20 World Cup and a place in the Super 8 stage of the tournament. The win also provides breathing space to Pakistan who would have exited the tournament had India lost the match. 

Surkyakumar Yadav (50*) and Shivam Dube (31*) forged a 72-run partnership to ensure India got over the winning line after USA pegged them back in the first half of the chase. 

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Batting on a sticky pitch at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, in front of a divided house, SKY and Dube had to bide their time in the middle. DKY, whose form in the ICC tournaments has been shaky at best, was given a reprieve during the innings but utilised it to full effect to see the chase through.

Meanwhile, Dube, who had a forgettable passage in the IPL and in the first match against Pakistan, got some adequate batting time under his belt. 

Chasing a tricky target of 111, India lost Virat Kohli in the first over on a golden duck, courtesy of Saurabh Netravalkar. The left-arm seamer, who works for Oracle forced Kohli, the highest run-scorer in T20 World Cups to edge one straight back to the keeper. 

Skipper Rohit Sharma did not last long either and perished against Netravalkar again by chipping a straight delivery down to mid off. However, the middle order managed to hold its own with Rishabh Pant (18) also absorbing some of the US pressure efficiently. 

India opt to bowl first

Opting to bowl first, India struck gold on the first ball as Arshdeep Singh bowled a peach of a delivery to trap Shayan Jahangir who could not deal with the late inswinging delivery. 

Wicketkeeper Andries Gous departed in the same over after being rushed into a shot, with the ball ballooning straight up in air to Hardik Pandya who zipped across at mid off to take a good catch. 

Hero of the previous two matches, Aaron Jones did put up a brief fight but could not over deal with the short-pitch bowling of Pandya. Lower down the order, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson and Harmeet Singh played little cameos but never really threatened to disturb the Indian bowling attack. 

Singh was at his pristine best as he finished with the best figures for an Indian bowler in the T20 World Cups (2-0-9-4). 

“The team always shows belief in me and keeps backing me, I had to deliver for them. The wicket is very conducive to fast bowlers and it’s helping us get some seam movement. The plan was simple, pitch it in the wicket and let the ball do the talking,” said Singh who won the Player of the Match award. 

The win concludes India’s campaign in the US as the team flies to Miami later tonight and from there to the Caribbean where sterner challenges await the Men-in-Blue. 

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