 "Hardik Pandya celebrates the dismissal of Aaron Jones with his teammates. AP")
Team India rode on Arshdeep Singh’s best bowling figures of 4/9 and an unbeaten half-century from Suryakumar Yadav to beat United States of America by seven wickets in a Group A match of the 2024 T20 World Cup, and qualify for the Super Eight stage, where they will be joined by Australia and South Africa. It wasn’t easy for Rohit Sharma and Co, who despite restricting USA to 110/8 from 20 overs, were made to sweat in the chase before sealing the deal in the 19th over.
Having opted to field first after winning the toss, Arshdeep Singh struck twice in the first over, removing opener Shayan Jahangir and wicketkeeper Andries Gous.
USA were reeling at 25/3 at one stage following the dismissal of stand-in captain Aaron Jones but a vital 31-run stand between Steven Taylor and Nitish Kumar put them somewhat on track for a good score. Regular skipper Monank Patel, meanwhile, was missing the match due to a niggle and Aaron Jones was leading the side.
Fans of both India and USA came out in large numbers to support their team.
India got off to a horrific start in their run chase, losing both Virat Kohli (0) and Rohit Sharma in the powerplay. The visitors were restricted to 33/2 in the first six overs. Saurabh Netravalkar took both wickets.
With India in trouble at 39/3, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube forged 67 runs for the fourth wicket to guide them to victory. SKY eventually reached his fifty in 49 balls, hitting two fours and as many sixes.