Skipper Suryakumar Yadav: Skipper Suryakumar Yadav blasted a majestic unbeaten 84, and seasoned pacer Mohammad Siraj bagged 3-29 coming in as a last-minute replacement as India saved themselves the blushes with a face-saving 29-run victory over the USA in their opening match in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Mumbai on Saturday.
Coming into the home World Cup as the defending champions, India are under pressure from the huge expectations for their third title. They suffered a setback on the eve of the opener when all-rounder Harshit Rana had to be withdrawn because of an injury, and the bad news continued as pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah decided to sit out the match with illness.
The impact on the morale showed as the hosts, asked to bat first on a Wankhede pitch that offered early movement on which the ball was gripping and holding, as they slumped to 77/6 against some fine bowling by the USA.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav led from the front as he scored a half-century in his debut as captain in the T20 World Cup and helped the team post a modest total of 161/9. Siraj took over after that with a two-wicket burst and, with Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel claiming two wickets each, prevailed over the USA by 29 runs.
The India captain continued his rich vein of form in 2026, scoring his fourth half-century in six matches and in the process completing 1000 runs as captain. He has scored 326 runs in six innings so far this year. His 84* is the second-highest score by an Indian captain behind Rohit Sharma’s 92 not out off 41 balls against Australia in 2024.
This was Suryakumar Yadav’s 29th half-century in T20Is and helped him. Suryakumar started 2026 with 32 against New Zealand and followed it up with 82 not out and 57* in the next two matches. His lone failure was at Visakhapatnam in the fourth match when he scored eight runs before he rounded off the five-match series against the BlackCaps with a 63 off 30 balls.
Siraj claimed 3-29, Arshdeep bagged 2-18, and Axar claimed 2-24 as India restricted the USA to 132/9 in 20 overs at the Wankhede Stadium, struggling to win their first match in Group A.
Brought into the squad on Friday as a replacement for injured Harshit Rana, Siraj was drafted into the playing XI when pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah fell ill and was unavailable for this match.
He lifted the morale of the depleted bowling attack and made a running start with a superb two-wicket burst in his first two overs, providing the breakthrough by getting Andries Gous (6) to hit uppishly to Tilak Varma at cover-point and then accounting for fellow-opener Saiteja Mukkamalla (2), who mistimed a fullish-length delivery on middle and off, which nipped in, and Varun Chakravarthy completed an easy catch.
In between, Arshdeep Singh sent back USA skipper Monank Patel for a duck as India reduced USA to 13/3. Siraj had figures of 2-18 from his first three overs.
Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Milind Kumar repaired the innings, raising 58 runs for the fourth wicket, playing cautiously against the Indian spinners and managing to score a boundary or two whenever the chance came. Varun Chakravarthy provided the much-needed breakthrough for India when he lured Milind Kumar out of his crease with Ishan Kishan completing an easy stumping. Milind scored a run-a-ball 34, hitting three fours and a six.
Krishnamurthi kept the other end going, hitting Axar and Hardik for a six each and a four off Varun. He mostly scored in singles and twos to reach 37 off 31 balls before Axar got him lashing at a tossed-up fullish delivery to be caught in the deep. Harmeet Singh fell on the next ball for a first-ball duck as the two-wicket blitz reduced USA to 98/6 in the 16th over.
Shubham Ranjane provided some late fireworks in his 37 as the United States’ innings imploded due to a lack of experience and some superb bowling by the Indians. Siraj and Arshdeep claimed a wicket each in their second spell to help the team ashore.
Earlier, skipper Suryakumar Yadav led from the front with a brilliant unbeaten 84 as India extricated themselves from a precarious 77/6 to post a fighting total of 161/9.
Van Schalkwyk triggered the collapse when he got Ishan Kishan (20, 16b, 1×4, 2×6) with a slower ball in the sixth over and sent back Tilak Varma (25, 16b, 3×4, 1×6) with a short ball that got big on him, having him caught at midwicket. Shivam Dube followed off the next ball, a slower one banged short and caught the bat as Dube tried to bail out. Saurabh Netravalkar grabbed a smart catch at short fine leg, as India slumped to a precarious 46/4.
But Suryakumar Yadav showed his teammates how to bat on such a wicket as he hammered 10 fours and four sixes in his 49-ball knock to help the defending champions post a respectable total.
Surya and his deputy, Axar Patel, kept India afloat as they built a partnership to take the team to a fighting total. They hammered 21 runs off the 16th over, bowled by another local lad turned US cricketer, Saurabh Netravalkar. Patel hammered the first two balls for superb boundaries while Surya ended the most-expensive over of the innings with a four and six, powering the ball to the fence as he usually does.
The Indian skipper put on display his usual 360-degree shot-making, hitting a four and six off Netravalkar and another four and six in the same over off Shadley van Schalkwyk, the bowler who troubled India by claiming 4-25 in his first spell. He scored 21 runs off Netravalkar in the final over as India managed to reach a defendable total.
India 161/9 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 84 not out, Tilak Varma 25; Shadley van Schalkwyk 4-25, Harmeet Singh 2-26) beat USA 132/9 in 20 overs (Sanjay Krishnamurthi 37, Shubham Ranjane 37, Milind Kumar 31; Mohammad Siraj 3-29, Axar Patel 2-24, Arshdeep Singh 2-18,
Article Source: IANS
