The Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 match, which is now in progress, saw another incredible duel.
After winning the toss, Indian captain Rohit Sharma invited the United States to bat first at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. The choice proved to be wise, as Arshdeep Singh immediately put pressure on the opposition by taking two wickets in the opening over.
To inject some life to the USA’s first innings total, Steven Taylor and Nitish Kumar played useful knocks on a sluggish surface. Star all-arounder Corey Anderson later helped the hosts score 110 runs by scoring 15 runs off of 12 balls. Indian pacers did well to hold the total, which had just been difficult to pursue.
When it came to the chase, Saurabh Netravalkar’s golden duck dismissal of Indian star batsman Virat Kohli dealt the team a big blow. The Men in Blue’s hopes of scoring goals at will were dashed as they were unable to free their arms. Alongside Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant attempted to steady the innings, but he left at a run-a-ball of just 18.
Though it was difficult to score runs effortlessly, Shivam Dube and Suryakumar joined each other in the middle, and the Mumbai boys made sure that there were no more mishaps. But the visitors rallied nicely, and with just a few overs remaining, they completed the victory. The senior hitter also went on to regain form and score an undefeated half-century. With this resounding victory, India moved to the top of the Group A standings and guaranteed their spot in the Super 8s.
Key Talking Points:
1. The Sardaar of Wickets, Arshdeep Singh
The match began with the left-arm pacer bowling the opening over and scoring on the first ball of the ball. In T20 World Cups, Arshdeep became the first Indian bowler to capture a wicket on the opening delivery. But that wasn’t enough because the native of Guna also defeated Andries Gous. The bowler sent Harmeet Singh and Nitish Kumar back to the dressing room with two more wickets in his second spell. After finishing with a 4-0-9-4 record, Arshdeep was named Player of the Match for his efforts.
2. SKY programme
Suryakumar Yadav was keen to perform well in today’s match after a few lacklustre performances in the previous games. An unwavering Mumbai native firmly planted his feet on the pitch and continued to toil, fighting valiantly for every run on an amazing surface. Indian was spared what may have been a major collapse as SKY scored an undefeated half-century and carried the team to victory.’
Also read: T20 World Cup 2024: Who is Nitish Kumar? All the information you require about the elite hitter from the USA
Arshdeep Singh, Player of the Match, said:
Very very happy with the performance. In the last two games, I gave away little more runs, wasn’t happy with that. The team always shows belief in me and keep backing me, I had to deliver for them. The wicket is very inducive 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.Don’t give easy balls to score, our batsmen are also facing difficulties to score runs. The plan was to hit the hard lengths. In conditions like this, you can use the wicket more. When you are playing intl cricket, you need to have some routines and the way you take care of your body counts. All the bowlers have done extremely well, looking forward to do the same in the next leg as well.
Aaron Jones, USA skipper said:
10-15 runs short. If we got 130 then it would have been a tough total, that’s how it goes sometimes. The boys were very disciplined, really proud of the bowling unit. Feels good, this is what we wanted for USA cricket, enjoying it. We will recalibrate now, have a few meetings and come back strong. The wicket was a bit tricky, more suited for seam bowling. That’s why no spin. Mostly he (Monank Patel) should be fit for the last game, just got a slight niggle.
Rohit Sharma, India skipper, said:
Knew it would be tough. Credit to us for the way we held our nerve and got that partnership. Credit to Surya and Dube for showing the maturity and taking us through. Lot of these guys have played cricket together, very happy to see their progress. Saw them last year in MLC as well, they are all hard-working guys. We knew bowlers had to take the lead, run scoring was difficult.
All the bowlers did the job, particularly Arshdeep. You want options and we should be able to use them as and when we can. Today, the pitch favoured the seamers so wanted to use him. It is a big relief, playing cricket here wasn’t easy. We had to stick through till the end in all 3 games. Will take a lot of confidence from these wins.
India
