A clinical bowling performances by pacer Arshdeep Singh (4-9) and Hardik Pandya (2 for 14) helped India restrict host the United States to 110 for 8 in a Group A match of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium here on Wednesday.
Put in to bat first, the host had a disappointing start on a track that offered plenty of swing and seam movement. It took Arshdeep all of one delivery to strike Shayan Jahangir’s pad with a superb in-swinger.
With three overs on the scoreboard, USA were yet to score a boundary and had already lost two wickets, both in the first over to Arshdeep Singh. Andries Gous tried to slap a short-of-length delivery but was defeated by an extra bounce.
The USA’s only boundary in the Power-play came off a top edge that flew over fine-leg for six when Aaron Jones attempted to hook a Mohammed Siraj bumper. 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 fell trying to pull Hardik as the ball skidded on quicker than he anticipated. It’s Siraj who took the catch at fine leg to effect the dismissal.
Shivam Dube, who bowled all of one over in IPL 2024, was given the ball and USA went after him immediately with eleven runs in the over. Steven Taylor cut loose by walloping a 122kph half-tracker over deep midwicket. The USA were 42 for 3 after the halfway mark.
Axar Patel was handed the ball ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and he got the dangerous Steven Taylor (24) off his second over, after conceding 12 runs in the over. 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.
Nitish Kumar, who hit the last ball for a four to take their game against Pakistan into a Super Over, had a clean swing. It didn’t take him long to find his hitting range. Hardik kept bowling length and short-of-a-length but got 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 got momentum towards the end and were eyeing a score of 120. However, Kumar’s (27) journey was cut short by Arshdeep Singh courtesy of Mohammad Siraj picking a blinder at deep mid-wicket.
Arshdeep ended his spell with 4 for 9 as Pandya claimed a two-fer for just 14 in four overs.
Brief score:
USA 110/8 in 20 overs (Nitish Kumar 27, Steven Taylor 24; Arshdeep Singh 4-9, Hardik Pandya 2-14) against India.