Suryakumar Yadav's 84* rescues India from 77/6 vs USA in T20 WC thriller

After his skipper had opted to bowl first, Shadley van Schalkwyk made full use of the movement offered by the Wankhede pitch that was gripping and holding the ball. But Suryakumar Yadav showed his bowlers 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.

India scored 46/4 in the Power-play, 69/2 in the middle overs before closing it out with 46/3 in death against some fine bowling by the Americans, who, however, dropped at least five catches.

Earlier, a three-wicket blitz by van Schalkwyk rocked India as the hosts slumped to 46/4 at the end of the six-over mandatory Power-play. Van Schalkwyk got into the act after Ali Khan had sent back the explosive opener Abhishek Sharma for a golden duck, claiming 3-13 in his first spell of three overs.

Van Schalkwyk triggered the collapse when he got Ishan Kishan (20, 16b, 1x4, 2x6) with a slower ball in the sixth over and sent back Tilak Varma (25, 16b, 3x4, 1x6) with a short ball that got big on him, having him caught at midwicket. Shivam Dube followed off the next ball, a slower one, which was 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.

The right-arm medium pacer of South African descent bowled the right lengths, keeping it just short, and was not afraid to bang it as he exploited the early conditions at the Wankhede.

Things could have been even worse for the two-time champions as the USA fielders put down four catches in all. Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma both had a life as did skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who was put down by his former Mumbai teammate Shubham Ranjane off his own bowling. However, the Indian batters could not capitalize on the sloppy fielding, as the good bowling got them out while they played some unwanted shots. The pressure was such that India went four overs without scoring a boundary across the Power-play.

SKY broke the stranglehold with a boundary and kept the Indian hopes alive with cautious batting. But things got worse as Rinku Singh (6 off 14) and Hardik Pandya (5 off 6) fell in quick succession, both trying to plant the spinners into the stands -- Rinku fell while trying to hit a fullish delivery from Mohammad Mohsin while Pandya slashed a short one outside off for an easy catch to Saiteja Mukkamalla as India slumped to 77/6 in 13th over.

Surya and his deputy, Axar Patel, kept the Indians 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.

Their 41-run partnership off 24 balls came to an end when Axar fell for 14, caught at the fence as he tried to hit out at a back-of-length delivery outside off from Harmeet Singh that spun back and left him cramped.

Suryakumar Yadav reached his fifty off 36 balls (7x4, 1x6) with a four off Ranjane and then waded into Netravalkar in the 20th over, blasting two fours and two sixes for 21 runs, scooping, lapping, and lofting shots at will, picking two yorker-length deliveries to the boundary as India reached a defendable total.

Brief scores: India 161/9 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 84 not out, Tilak Varma 25; Shadley van Schalkwyk 4-25, Harmeet Singh 2-26) against USA.

- IANS