Surya, Dube dig in to allay nerves
It was almost as if the reprieve of Suryakumar deflated USA.
Suddenly, Aaron Jones was switching fields every ball, running up to have a bowler between deliveries, all of it playing into the hands of the batters.
Twice, USA were warned of delaying the game by not beginning their next over within their 60-second allowance. When they erred for a third time, the umpires awarded five penalty runs to India.
From 35 off 30, India now needed a run-a-ball 30.
It didn’t matter then that Dube had been struggling on 5 off 14, or that Suryakumar was far from his 360-degree mode.
In the 17th over, India truly broke the stranglehold and took a giant leap towards victory when Suryakumar picked van Schalkwyk’s medium pace for a lofted six over extra cover and a trademark flick off back-to-back deliveries to kill the chase.
Off the first ball of the 19th, he got to a run-a-ball half-century. The winning runs were hit one legitimate delivery later when Dube dug out a yorker-length delivery to long-off to complete a brace and seal India’s victory.
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India awarded five penalty runs
5 Penalty runs awarded to India with India needing 35 off 30
Reason: Thrice in this innings, USA have failed to start a new over within a minute.
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Surya reprieved
55 needed off 45.
His inability to hit the ball off the square, partly because USA are bowling into the pitch and taking pace off, has Surya trying something out of the box.
An over prior, he'd tried to sweep Corey Anderson off his lengths and nearly got bowled.
Now, in a bid to break the shackles, he tries to open the bat face and play the lofted drive. But ends up slicing it to short third.
That man, Saurabh Netravalkar, who can do no wrong, circles underneath after doing exceeding well in getting to the ball. But trembles for a fraction as the ball descends, and the ball slips through his hands.
Is that going to be a turning point? Massive moment for sure.
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Dube struggles, Surya fights
From 5 off 14, Dube gets a streaky edge for four.
Suryakumar, who began with his trademark flick for six over long leg, is treading caution.
Jones happy to operate with seamers Corey Anderson and Jasdeep Singh. Perhaps he's mindful of the match-up and the left-handed presence of Dube, because of which Harmeet Singh, the left-arm spinner, is being held back.
India need 58 off 54.
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Ali Khan cleans up Rishabh Pant
The ball shoots low and skids through Pant's defence. He was looking in good nick, the timing, defence - all in sync until then. He got away with pull shot that cleared deep square leg for six in the sixth over, off Jasdeep Singh, as the boundary rider was a few yards in. But can't get away this time.
Could he have played forward? Did he misjudge the length? Questions he can ponder over in the dressing room.
Thirty-thousand fans are jubilant.
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Netravalkar's dream spell
Kohli in his first over. Rohit in his next.
On both occasions, he had the ball slanting away from the right-handers. Rohit turned the bat face a tad early to get a leading edge to mid-off where Harmeet Singh, Rohit's junior at school, takes an excellent catch running back.
Out comes Suryakumar, Netravalkar's close friend from Mumbai. The two have known each other from their Under-15 days and played club cricket together before being teammates at Mumbai.
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Kohli duck
Virat Kohli out nicking behind off Saurabh Netravalkar as USA are off to a dream start. Perhaps played for a hint of inward movement and went driving, but the ball slants across to kiss the outside edge. Dream stuff for the 32-year old, who had spoken about the desire to chat with Kohli, among others, after the match.
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USA finish with 110
Will it push India?
106 wasn't quite enough for Canada yesterday on this same surface. USA have a more pedigreed bowling attack; India's batting is top-heavy. If they can prise out two, this could yet be an interesting contest.
108 Average first-innings score in New York. USA have "par plus"
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Five runs, two wickets
4/9: Arshdeep's best figures in a T20I
USA were well poised going into the death overs to have a crack at 125, but overs 16-18 have scuppered those plans.
Hardik bowled a wicket-maiden off the 17th, dismissing Anderson for his second wicket, and Arshdeep had Harmeet Singh, who top-edged Bumrah for a six to get off the mark, caught behind.
With two overs left, USA are 100 for 7. Can they get to 120?
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Nitish, Anderson lead USA's fight
25 Not a massive partnership when viewed traditionally, but they got those off 18 balls
Nitish, who hit the last-ball four to force their game against Pakistan into a Super Over, has a clean swing. And when he goes down town, that swing is uninhibited.
It didn't take him long to find his hitting range. Hardik kept bowling length and short of a length, but gets punished at the first instance of bowling. Two balls later, he drilled another straight hit off a full delivery.
In the following over, Corey Anderson slog-swept Axar to the deep midwicket fence. After a crawl of a first-half, USA finally have some momentum to eye 120.
It needed a blinder from Siraj at deep square leg to send Nitish back for a 23-ball 27.
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Six and out: Axar strikes
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He has been thrown the ball ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and he gets the dangerous Steven Taylor off his second over, the 12th of the innings.
A ball after he was dismissed into the stands off a slot-ball, Axar slowed it down and shortened his length nicely to have Taylor chop on while attempting a cut shot.
Axar's a like-for-like with Jadeja, but it's his improved batting that gives him the edge should India pick just one of their spin-allrounders to field a wristspinner in Kuldeep Yadav.
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Hello, Dube
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Shivam Dube, who bowled all of one over in IPL 2024, is given the ball and USA go after him immediately. Steven Taylor cuts loose by walloping a 122kph half-tracker over deep midwicket.
The ferocious hit may have just bruised a local policeman who had his back to the action because his eyes were on the crowd.
USA 42/3 at the halfway mark.
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Jones perishes to the short-ball
1 Today's the first time Aaron Jones has been dismissed at this year's T20 World Cup
After scores of 94* and 36*, Jones couldn't get going against India. He got away with a short ball that he top-edged for six off Siraj, but falls trying to pull Hardik as the ball skids on quicker than he anticipates. It's Siraj who takes the catch at fine leg.
Interestingly, Hardik's other two wickets in the tournament, against Pakistan, was also off the short delivery. A direct consequence of him bending his back and bowling with plenty of zip.
USA in choppy waters as Nitish Kumar comes in at No. 5
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The stranglehold is on
Rohit goes pace all through in the Powerplay. This passage had all the feels of the first session of a morning session in a Test - seam, swing, bounce.
USA's only boundary came off a top-edge that flew over fine leg for six when Aaron Jones attempted to hook a Mohammed Siraj bumper.
Hardik Pandya, whose bowling lends proper balance to India's XI, clocks close to 135 clicks in every ball of his first over. There's spongy bounce off the deck as well, and batters, including the in-form Aaron Jones, haven't so far been able to get bat to ball properly.
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USA in early trouble
Three overs in, USA are yet to score a boundary and have lost two wickets, both in the first over to Arshdeep Singh.
There's plenty of swing and seam movement on offer, as has been the case all tournament here in New York, and it took Arshdeep all of one delivery to strike Shayan Jahangir's pad with a superb in-swinger.
He was so plumb that Arshdeep didn't even bother appealing and simply ran through to celebrate with his teammates. Andries Gous tried to slap a short of length delivery, but was defeated by extra bounce.
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T20 Time:Out with Anil Kumble and Varun Aaron
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Rohit calls correctly; India opt to bowl
Monank Patel is out with a "niggle" (shoulder problem, we're told) and "should be back next game". USA will be led by Aaron Jones, who says "we're ready to play hard cricket, looking to win."
Rohit Sharma calls correctly and India will bowl first. Pitch will challenge them in different ways, he says. India are unchanged.
Two changes for USA: Monank Patel and Noshthush Kenjige miss out. Shayan Jahangir, the Karachi-born opener who plays for MI New York in the MLC, and Shadley van Schalkwyk come in.
USA XI: 1 Steven Taylor, 2 Shayan Jahangir, 3 Andries Gous, 4 Nitish Kumar, 5 Aaron Jones (capt), 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Harmeet Singh, 8 Shadley van Schalkwyk, 9 Jasdeep Singh, 10 Saurabh Netravalkar, 11 Ali Khan
India XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Arshdeep Singh
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Two ‘Mumbai’ Indians live the American dream
Saurabh Netravalkar came here in 2015 to study, and played cricket to “fit into the Indian community.”
Harmeet Singh was disillusioned by Indian cricket politics and came here at the height of the covid pandemic to rebuild his life.
Nagraj Gollapudi and I had an opportunity to sit-down (virtually) with both of them to chat about their journey and what it means to be playing against the country they had once hoped to represent.
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Cricket goes mainstream in USA
They were streaming the Super Over on a giant screen at Times Square in Manhattan. Yes, a cricket match involving USA. The New York Times is writing about how cricket has taken over parts of the country. The BCCI secretary paid a visit to the NFL headquarters. Baseball fans have been triggered by the several viral World Cup videos that have been doing rounds. Reps in-charge of LA 2028 were at Nassau County to witness the “cricketing spectacle” that was India v Pakistan. And tonight, it’ll perhaps be the biggest game USA has played till date.
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It’s USA v India from New York
It's a top of the table fixture between two sides heavily favored to reach the Super 8s from Group D. Who would’ve thought? Pakistan, finally off the mark courtesy their scrappy win over Canada yesterday, will be closely watchingm, probably hooting and cheering for an Indian win this morning. Expect a full house of mostly desis, rooting for either their janmabhoomi (birth place) or karnabhoomi (work place).
How often have you seen in cricket that the home team plays their first-ever game at a venue, while the opposition will be playing their third straight game here in a week?
Sidharth Monga, our correspondent in New York chimes in. "Another beautiful morning has welcomed us for the last match of the New York leg. I got in at 7am. All the various kinds of police were up and ready one last time. Down to the sniffer dog who has to go through every last bag that goes in. It is quarter past 9, and the stands are just about beginning to fill in.
"Rest assured it will get close to the India-Pakistan kind of atmosphere in the stands. The US team is already here and warming up. India are just about here. They have had to move dressing rooms today because they were in the “home” team dressing room till now. But today they face the home team. I very much doubt there will be home-like support in the stands for US. Also India are more used to these conditions.
Conditions remind me: the pitch to be used for this match is No. 3, which was used for yesterday's Canada v Pakistan game too. All of these pitches have had appreciable seam movement, so a no-brainer to bowl first if you win the toss.
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