Picture Credit : BCCI/ICC
India beat USA in the opening match of the WT20 by 29 runs. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav led the win with a magnificent knock to help India post a good total and the bowlers delivered. USA won the toss and opted to chase and Ishan Kishan opened the batting with Abhishek Sharma. Abhishek Sharma could not get going as he was dismissed for a golden duck. It was the second over and Ali Khan bowled a good length delivery outside off and kept a deep cover in play and Abhishek Sharma fell into the trap and hit it straight to the fielder where Sanjay Krishnamurthi took a simple catch. Tilak Varma joined Ishan Kishan in the middle and started really well. Ishan Kishan was very lucky as he was dropped a few times and India were 44/1 in 5 overs.
Shadley van Schalkwyk came into bowl the sixth over and completely changed the momentum of the game. Ishan Kishan’s luck ran out as he was dismissed by Schalkwyk for 20 runs of 16 balls as India were 45/2. What followed was something no one could have imagined. Tilak Varma fell next in the fifth ball of the over as India were reduced to 46/3. Shivam Dube also departed for a duck as India were in all sorts of trouble at 46/4 at the end of the powerplay. Schalkwyk bowled a dream spell as he picked up three wickets in his three overs giving away 13 runs at that point.
Rinku Singh could not get going and departed for 6 of 14 balls and Hardik too fell cheaply as India were 77/6. Axar Patel joined Suryakumar Yadav and stitched a good partnership. Axar was dismissed in the 17th over as India were 118/7. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav scored a terrific half century to help India get a defendable total. He was particularly brutal on Saurabh Netravalkar. Suryakumar Yadav ended up with unbeaten 84 of just 49 balls which included ten fours and 6 sixes as India ended up with 161/9.
In the chase, Indian new ball bowlers were terrific as Arshdeep and Siraj bowled three overs each and picked up three wickets as USA ended the powerplay with 31/3. It was always going to be difficult from that point but Milind Kumar and Sanjay stitched up a good partnership and USA were getting the runs but required run rate kept climbing. Then the collapse came in the middle overs and USA finished with 132/7. India won the match by 29 runs and Suryakumar Yadav was the player of the match.
