NEW YORK: It was a stern workout that no one in the Indian camp would mind. Even the United States, who came up second best, can take a lot of heart from this effort as they stay close to a Super-8 berth.
India, of course, finished the job of qualifying for the next round with a seven-wicket win, but not before a scare. A target of 111 on this track is more than competitive, and when left-arm pacer Saurabh Netravalkar had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma out cheaply, one felt that things could really get tight.
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Rishabh Pant, too, was done in by one that kept low and a middle-order, that looked wobbly against Pakistan, was suddenly asked to do the job. It was here that Suryakumar Yadav (50 not out off 49 balls) brought all his experience into play. He got hit a few times but there was a determination in the Mumbai man’s effort that has made him such a hot property in T20 cricket.
He got a life too at 22, when a topedge was dropped by Netravalkar at short third-man running back. India were 58-3 at that stage and Surya’s wicket could well have made things a little tougher. But he survived, as did Shivam Dube (31 no off 35 balls), who had been struggling for form in the tournament.
He was equally uncomfortable for long stretches of his innings, but after Surya’s dropped chance, one felt that the US bowling intensity dropped a little.
Dube also connected an 86-metre six in the 15th over, that brought the pressure down significantly for the India. Surya and Dube batted on for their unbeaten 72-run partnership as India wrapped up their New York leg with three wins of the trot.
On the bowling front, it was Arshdeep Singh who turned out to be the hero. Arshdeep (4-9) wasn’t a sure-shot starter when India came to the US, but at the World Cup has progressed, he has shaped up into a key cog. On Wednesday too, the paceman was right on his money from the beginning, getting rid of Shayan Jahangir in the second ball that swung in late.
Arshdeep didn’t mind pitching a few slightly short, even though that’s not his go-to delivery. On this track, which had a lot of uneven bounce, the short ball worked well as the left-arm pacer had the wicket of skipper Andre Gous in the first over itself.
Later, coming back for his second spell, the Punjab Kings pacer had the wicket of a dangerous-looking Nitish Kumar with another short ball at a time when the right-hander was looking to take the game to the Indian bowlers. Nitish’s catch was brilliantly completed by Mohammed Siraj in the deep, as he adjusted his body to keep himself within the ropes.
In between the two Arshdeep spells, the USA team showed enough spunk to take their score to 110, which wasn’t easy to achieve against an attack of the quality of India on a pitch as difficult as this.
The US batters created little boroughs of resistance with the likes of Steven Taylor, Nitish, Corey Anderson all coming up with useful contributions. They tried to negate the risk-factor as much as possible and tried to play in ODI style, waiting for the slightly loose balls to get the runs.
There was probably a slight sense of complacency in the Indian bowling ranks — understandable after their magnificent comeback win against Pakistan — but that doesn’t take anything away from the courage that was shown by the USA batters to make a match of it.
But at the end of the day, the experience of the Indian team proved a little too much.
