India were made to work harder than they would have expected, but still won with a fair bit to spare, quelling United States’ spirited challenge by seven wickets. Their third win on the bounce at New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium confirmed their entry into next week’s Super Eights.
The victory helped India tick several boxes, including a return to run-scoring ways of Mumbai duo Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube.
A former Mumbai player now representing US had threatened to derail India’s campaign by evicting Virat Kohli with the first delivery of India’s chase of 111 and then packing off old Borivli mate Rohit Sharma to leave the World’s No. 1 side gasping at 10 for two. Saurabh Netravalkar made his senior representative debut in 2013 with a solitary Ranji Trophy appearance for Mumbai against Karnataka, but it’s in the United States that the software engineer with Oracle has found his cricketing calling.
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Shivam Dube during his unbeaten 31 against USA at New York on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images
The left-arm seamer, who expertly defended 18 in the Super Over against Pakistan last week, forced fellow Mumbaikars Suryakumar and Dube, both needing runs under the belt with India in a spot, to bide their time and dig deep so that Arshdeep Singh’s T20I best 4-9 didn’t go in vain.
Suryakumar shines with 50
Suryakumar and Dube didn’t disappoint, the former making a patient half-century and the latter battling through large periods of frustrating scorelessness to realise 72 for the fourth wicket. Suryakumar’s unbeaten 50 came off 49 deliveries; Dube’s 31 not out took 35 balls.
“It wasn’t the kind of surface where I could play my natural game,” Dube, an acknowledged six-hitter, conceded. “I had to play differently and bide my time. Batting per se has been difficult here, doesn’t matter if one is batting first or chasing.”
Arshdeep Singh on his career-best 4-9
Five-run penalty
Dube survived a torrid early period as both he and Suryakumar found fluency hard to come by, though they gritted their teeth and eventually got the job done in style. India’s cause was helped by five penalty runs being added to their tally of 76 at the end of the 15th over because US had taken more than 60 seconds between overs thrice in the innings.
“Five runs wasn’t going to affect the outcome of the game, it didn’t affect the outcome,” US head coach Stuart Law insisted. “They were given two clear warnings, then it’s up to the players to respond. And we didn’t respond fast enough, that’s something we can address.”
Aaron Jones, standing in for injured captain Monank Patel, felt his team had been 15-20 short of a competitive total, for which Arshdeep was primarily responsible. “I am very happy with my performance,” Player of the Match Arshdeep remarked, adding, “In the last two games, I gave away too many [35 against Ireland, 31 against Pakistan], but the team have kept backing me. All the bowlers have done well, looking forward to the same in the next stage.”
