Suryakumar Yadav hit an unbeaten half-century and left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh claimed a career-best 4-9 as India defeated the United States by seven wickets to reach the T20 World Cup second round on Wednesday.
Chasing 111 to win the Group A clash, India were at 15-2 and then 44-3 before Yadav (50) and Shivam Dube (31) put on an undefeated fourth-wicket stand of 67 to secure a third win in three games for Rohit Sharma's team with 10 balls to spare.
"We knew this was going to be a tough task. We lost some wickets up front but we showed some maturity to take the game to the end," said Rohit.
Despite the defeat, the United States are still well-placed to join India in the Super Eights as they have four points while Pakistan and Canada are on two with a game each to play.
India were stunned by Mumbai-born fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar, who played for India at the Under-19 World Cup in 2010. He had superstar batsman Virat Kohli caught behind for nought off the first ball he faced. Rohit was then caught by Harmeet Singh at mid-off, again off the bowling of Netravalkar in the third over. Rishabh Pant's 18-run cameo was ended when his stumps were uprooted by Ali Khan in the eighth over.
Yadav went to his 18th international T20 half-century from 49 balls with two fours and a pair of sixes. Dube's 31 came off 35 deliveries and featured a boundary and a six on the same tricky and slow Nassau County International Cricket Stadium pitch where India had made just 119 in a six-run win over Pakistan at the weekend.
"I would say we were 10-15 runs short on that pitch. We knew that 125-130 would have been a tough total to chase but it goes that way sometimes," said USA skipper Aaron Jones.
Earlier, Arshdeep removed recalled opener Shayan Jahangir lbw off the first ball and had Andries Gous (two) caught in the deep five balls later as the USA found themselves 3-2 after the opening over. Big-hitting Jones, who clubbed an undefeated 94 in the hosts' opening win over Canada in Dallas, made just 11 before he fell to Hardik Pandya. That left the US on 25-3 before opener Steven Taylor (24) and top-scorer Nitish Kumar (27) put on 31 for the fourth wicket. Nitish became Arshdeep's third victim, smartly caught on the boundary by Mohammed Siraj.
Former New Zealand star Corey Anderson (15) was the sixth man out with the score on 96 thanks to a running catch by wicket-keeper Pant off Pandya who completed a wicket-maiden. With the Americans looking to push the total into three figures, Arshdeep had Harmeet Singh caught behind for 10. Shadley van Schalkwyk (11) and Jasdeep Singh (two) ensured the United States posted what they hoped would have been a defendable total.
Both teams went into the game with a perfect four points from two wins with the USA having stunned Pakistan in a Super Over triumph last time out. India join Australia and South Africa as the three teams to have so far booked their places in the next stage.
(AFP)
John Denham
