India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav celebrates his fifty against the USA in Mumbai. PHOTO: AFP
A sparkling unbeaten 84 from India captain Suryakumar Yadav and three wickets from late call-up Mohammed Siraj in Mumbai on Saturday helped India to avoid a shock defeat to the United States as they opened their defence of the T20 World Cup.
India were in trouble at 77-6 before Suryakumar took them to a competitive 161-9 at a packed Wankhede stadium and won by 29 runs as the USA could only muster 132-8 in reply.
Chasing 162 for a massive upset, the Americans were quickly reduced to 13-3 as Siraj, only added to the squad 24 hours earlier as a replacement for the injured Harshit Rana, struck twice in his first two overs.
A 58-run fourth-wicket partnership between Milind Kumar (34) and Sanjay Krishnamurthi (37) put the USA on course for a stunning win.
They were still in the hunt at 98-4 in the 16th over when spinner Axar Patel took two wickets in two balls to end their hopes.
Suryakumar paced his 49-ball innings brilliantly, shepherding the tail and smashing 10 fours and four sixes as India plundered 75 off the final six overs.
Siraj, who had not played a T20 international since July 2024, celebrated his recall by taking a wicket with his fourth ball.
USA opener Andries Gous had just hit Siraj for six, but the next ball could only find Tilak Varma, who took a low catch.
Arshdeep Singh got in on the act at the other end, removing captain Monank Patel, who was caught by Shivam Dube off a leading edge.
That left the USA at 11-2, which became 13-3 when Siraj struck again to remove Saiteja Mukkamalla for two.
Siraj finished with 3-29 after trapping Shubham Ranjane lbw with the final ball of the innings.
Mini-collapse
After US captain Patel won the toss and opted to field, his decision was rewarded with the prize wicket of the dangerous Abhishek Sharma off the first ball he faced.
The left-handed Abhishek attempted a typically flamboyant back-foot drive for six off the bowling of Ali Khan to be caught on the cover boundary by Sanjay Krishnamurthi.
Number three Varma announced his arrival with a six and two fours off Saurabh Netravalkar.
From a comfortable 45-1, Ishan Kishan slapped Shadley van Schalkwyk to Kumar at mid-off on 20 to spark a mini-collapse for India.
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It was soon 46-3 as Tilak succumbed to Van Schalkwyk, splicing an attempted pull to Patel at midwicket.
Next ball Shivam Dube also fell to leave Van Schalkwyk on a hat-trick, which was successfully staved off by Suryakumar.
India crept to 63-4 at the halfway stage, which soon became 72-5 and 77-6 when Rinku Singh was caught in the deep and Hardik Pandya perished in a similar fashion.
Suryakumar bided his time before unleashing an assault in the 16th over, hitting three fours and a six off seamer Netravalkar.
He reached his fifty off 36 balls with a trademark wristy sweep for four.
The final over saw Suryakumar smash 21 runs, including two sixes off the hapless Netravalkar, who finished with the sorry figures 0-65 off his four overs.
