On the opening day of the ICC T20 World Cup all the three minnows on display threatened to stop the big guns but then faded away. The USA had reduced India to 46 for 4 and then 77 for 6 but met the same fate as Netherlands and Scotland.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav, dropped on 17 off 15, scored a masterful unbeaten 84 off 49 balls to give India plenty to defend on a surface where the ball gripped enough to make shot-making fraught at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night.
After anchoring the innings, a subdued Suryakumar then went back to his normal avtaar and scored 48 off the last 18 balls he faced, including 21 off the last over, dragging seven deliveries from wide outside off to the leg-side boundary, often ending up on his back after completing the shot.
Then the Indian bowlers, led by the early strikes from Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh, never let the chase get going to ensure the lowest successful defence. India won by 29 runs to unleash their campaign on a solid note.
When USA asked the hosts to bat first, the talk revolved around a 300 score. But USA began with square leg and sweeper cover as the two men outside the ring. Abhishek Sharma, the best T20I batter in the world, fell for a golden duck to deep cover.
Shadley van Schalkwyk then took three wickets in the last over of the powerplay: Ishan Kishan (20) to a slower full ball, Tilak Varma (25) to a quick short ball and Shivam Dube for another golden duck to a slower short ball.
A tall and quick legspinner, Mohammad Mohsin kept the choke hold in the middle overs. Not having conceded a single boundary in the first 15 balls, he created a long-on catch from Rinku Singh. Harmeet Singh, another former Mumbai player, then got the current Mumbai Indians captain, Hardik Pandya, caught at deep cover, again the ball stopping on him.
Once Harmeet got Axar Patel (14) caught at deep midwicket to make it 118 for 7 in the 17th over, two things were clear. That even a tall left-hand batter was struggling to time left-arm spinners, which meant India had a chance. And that Suryakumar still had work to do.
Just as India started to open up, Ali Khan, two overs for 13 runs, injured himself while diving. Ranjane took up the bowling job, bowled well and then injured himself diving in his follow through. Suryakumar then took full toll of the 20th over, bowled by Netravalkar, who now holds the record for most runs conceded in a T20 World Cup match: 65.
Siraj was not supposed to be a part of this World Cup. Then Harshit Rana injured himself in the warm-up fixture against South Africa. He still wasn’t supposed to be in the XI, but Jasprit Bumrah fell sick. On he came, playing a T20I for the first time in two years, and took a wicket fourth ball, sending back the big-hitting Andries Gous.
Arshdeep Singh, who set the tone with no runs off the bat in the first over, got stuck in with the wicket of Monank Patel. Siraj made it three similar wickets when he had Saiteja Mukkamalla caught at short midwicket. All three were mistimed slightly because of the slowness of the pitch.
With no dew around, Varun Charavarthy and Axar proved to be too good for USA on this surface. A period of 22 balls without a boundary was broken by a six by Milind Kumar, but Varun soon had him stumped. Sanjay Krishnamurthi hung in, brought the equation down to 62 off the last five overs, but Axar ended the fight with two wickets in two balls.
Brief scores: India 161 for 9 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 84 not out, Shadley van Schalkwyk 4/25, Harmeet Singh 2/26) beat USA 132 for 8 in 20 overs (Shubham Ranjane 37, Sanjay Krishnamurthi 37; Mohd Siraj 3/29, Arshdeep Singh 2/18).
