India vs USA Live Score, T20 World Cup 2024: Axar Patel Breaks 31-Run Partnership, USA 59/4 (12)

Nitish Kumar is taking the attack to India – and no, we are not talking about Indian politics here.

The American batter Nitish Kumar, of course, is in the mood for fireworks, as he strikes a six and a four off Hardik Pandya’s bowling.

USA: 71/4 after 13 overs.

Mohammed Siraj is re-introduced into the attack. Considering he went wicketless in the match against Pakistan, Rohit Sharma would dearly love him to be among wickets today, but it is not to be in this over at least. Six runs come from the over.

USA: 48/3 after 11 overs.

After nine overs of pace, Rohit Sharma introduced spin in the form of Axar Patel. The left-arm orthodox spinner does not give any room whatsoever, but still concedes five runs, all of them coming in singles.

USA: 42/3 after 10 overs.

Rohit Sharma saw an opportunity to test Shivam Dube’s bowling prowess, but he might not be happy with what he saw. Dube conceded 11 runs, albeit four of those came off an outside edge. Who struck that boundary? Nitish Kumar. Hate him or love him, that name is omnipresent currently.

USA: 37/3 after 9 overs.

WICKET!

Aaron Jones’ resilience meets its conclusion. Hardik took a cue from the Jasprit Bumrah playbook and banged the ball short, which Jones attempted to pull for a six. However, he could only find Mohammed Siraj at fine leg, and the pacer made no mistake in completing the regulation catch.

USA: 26/3 after 8 overs.

Good heavens!

Bumrah tries a short ball, but the way it took off after hitting the surface seemed like it was launched from the Sriharikota centre of ISRO. 7 runs come from the over.

USA: 25/2 after 7 overs.

Excellent powerplay from the Indian bowlers. Hardik Pandya bowls the last over of the powerplay, and like Bumrah, concedes merely one run. Meanwhile, Navjot Singh Sidhu is going on and about the pitch in commentary. Rightfully so – the batters will say.

USA: 18/2 after 6.

Jasprit Bumrah is introduced into the attack to bowl the fifth over, and he has bowled six excellently controlled deliveries. Only one run came off the over of last match’s Player of the Match awardee.

USA: 17/2 after 5 overs.

Finally, there is some respite for USA, and who else but Aaron Jones to break the shackles. Mohammed Siraj bangs the ball short, but Jones likes to hit across the line towards the leg-side. That is exactly what he did here, hitting the first six of the match.

USA: 16/2 after 4 overs.

Arshdeep Singh has proven to be an absolute menace on this New York track. Another excellent over sees him conceding just a solitary run. Aaron Jones and Steven Taylor are treading on thin ice here.

USA: 8/2 after 3 overs.

It was always going to be difficult to eclipse what Arshdeep Singh produced in his first over, but Mohammed Siraj could be content with his start. Only four runs came from the over, two of those courtesy of a rare misfield from Ravindra Jadeja.

USA: 7/2 after 2 overs.

ARSHDEEP IS AT IT AGAIN!

Two wickets in the first over for India – this is a dream start for Rohit Sharma’s team. Arshdeep pulled his length back for the last delivery of the over, and Andries Gous gave into the temptation of playing a pull shot. Neither the connection nor the timing was correct, as Gous ended up finding Hardik Pandya at mid-off.

USA: 3/2 after 1 over.

WICKET!

What a start to the game for the Indians. Arshdeep Singh has struck in his first delivery. Excellent in-swinger, nips into the batter after pitching, and the Pakistan-born Shayan Jahangir is trapped leg before wicket. He does not review, as it looked as plumb as they get.

There is another LBW shout, against the South Africa-born Andries Gous on this occasion, but this delivery had a bit more height.

As expected, India have chosen not to tinker with a combination that has been working wonders for them. USA, however, have made two changes, one of them being forced. Captain Monank Patel is nursing an injury, making way for Shayan Jahangir. Barring that, Shadley van Schalkwyk is replaced Noshtush Kenjige.

India playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.

USA playing XI: Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir, Andries Gous (wk), Aaron Jones (c), Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan.

Toss has happened in New York, and the news from the centre is – India have won the toss and opted to bowl first.

It is an unsurprising decision, considering the pitch offers purchase aplenty to the seamers in the first few overs, albeit it remains harsh on batters throughout. A counter-intuitive suggestion could have been to bat first, so as to test the batters against a comparatively weaker side, but India have made their intentions clear – don’t fix what’s not broken.

“Pitch has played better in the last two games. You gotta understand what you need to do, assess conditions quickly,” said the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma.

Although there were some apprehensions about the squad they selected for this tournament, India have so far looked impregnable – even if we are to consider the batting struggles against Pakistan.

In the first match, India bowled Ireland out for 96, and then chased it down in merely 12.2 overs – a remarkable scoring rate, be it against a comparatively much weaker opposition.

Against Pakistan, India did face challenges with the bat, but their death bowling was remarkable. In the last six overs, India’s bowling unit, led by a certain Jasprit Bumrah, conceded only 33 runs and picked up four wickets.

India vs USA Live Score, T20 World Cup 2024: Halfway into the group stages of this competition, India were – in all likelihood – expected to be on the verge of securing qualification for the Super 8 stage. That, they are, as they are likely to become the third team to confirm their advancement, following South Africa and Australia.

What perhaps was not along expected lines was that when they will take on USA in a couple of hours time, the co-hosts will also be in a similar situation – only a win away from joining the sport’s big boys in the Caribbean. With wins over Canada and Pakistan, the latter being regarded as the upset of the tournament, USA have shown they belong at this stage, and against India, irrespective of the result, they will face another challenge to prove they are not here to merely make up numbers.