India 111 for 3 (Suryakumar 50*, Dube 31*, Netravalkar 2-18) scored USA 110 for 8 (Nitish 27, Taylor 24, Arshdeep 4-9, Hardik 2-14) for seven wickets
The USA had many things against them.
Conditions: Before today, they had never played at Nassau County Stadium; this was India’s fourth match at this venue.
Employees: Monank Patel, the designated captain, was injured.
Throwing: Rohit Sharma batted well and asked USA to bat in tight situations.
Experience: A motley crew with day jobs against cricket royalty.
It had everything to make a one-way fare. Except, it wasn’t.
When Rishabh Pant was played by Ali Khan, thirty-nine thousand screaming fans, many of them Indian-Americans, gave more wings to those dreams.
This was now the USA’s game to lose.
Netravalkar’s time for Gibbs?
Fifty-three are needed in 45.
The USA were bowling cutters on the field. Suryakumar was struggling to hit the ball from the square, and trying to make strokes. Many times, it comes out. Here, that was not the case.
The hero who couldn’t put a foot wrong until then was human, after all.
Netravalkar’s dream begins
Virat Kohli first. Rohit Sharma next.
The ball that dropped Kohli in the first over was a dream. The batter starts with a lead delivery that has him stumped. It was Kohli’s second golden duck in T20Is.
The ball that Rohit got was almost identical. Except it was too close to the stumps and Rohit had to turn the face of the bat to take the leading edge. In the middle of the game, Harmeet Singh, Rohit’s junior by a few years, ran back and held on.
India were shocked to find themselves 15 for 2, which quickly became 44 for 3 when Rishabh Pant got out at one slip and defended.
Suryakumar, Dube stepped in to calm the nerves
It felt like Suryakumar’s withdrawal let the USA down.
From 35 off 30, India now needed 30 runs-a-ball. It didn’t matter then that Dube had struggled at 5 for 14, or that Suryyakumar was far from his 360-degree mode.
In the 17th over, India really came into their own when Suryakumar picked out Shadley van Schalkwyk’s medium pacer for a six over cover and his trademark over the shoulder to deliver four overs in a row.
In the first 19th ball, he reached his 49-ball half-century. The winning runs came when Dube got a long delivery. It could have been another knock that had Dube doubting, but trying to stay unbeaten at 31 against a tough player should give him plenty of confidence.
Arshdeep’s career-best has USA hobbling
The day started with a two-wicket opener where Arshdeep Singh bowled the ball. Shayan Jahangir, who replaced Monank Patel, was out lbw, and Andries Gous singled at mid-off trying to pull a skiddy short ball.
It wasn’t until Nitish Kumar and Corey Anderson added 25 in 18 to the final overs that the USA had an injection of momentum that allowed them to reach 120.
However, more than 16-18 reject those plans. Hardik bowled a wicket-maiden in the 17th over, removing Anderson for his second wicket, while Arshdeep had Harmeet Singh – who had bowled Bumrah off the top six to get off the mark – caught behind.
The USA ended up with 110, who would look back and wonder what it would have been like to get only 10.
Shashank Kishore is senior junior editor at ESPNcricinfo
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