India have avoided a potential hurdle, beating USA by seven wickets in New York to reach the second stage of the World Cup
India have qualified for the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket win over the United States, a fifty by Suryakumar Yadav and Arshdeep Singh’s four-wicket haul helping them clinch their third win in a row.
Put in to bat, the Americans struggled against well-targeted short-pitched bowling on the now notoriously tricky Long Island surface.
Arshdeep (4-9) dismissed Shayan Jahangir (0) and Andries Gous (2) in the first over and Hardik Pandya (2-14) added the wicket of Aaron Jones as the USA struggled to 3-25 in the eighth over.
Steven Taylor (24) and Nitish Kumar (27) led a recovery that helped the co-hosts reach 8-110, respectable on this wicket, but unlikely to be competitive against the powerful Indian batting line-up.
However, India also struggled at the start, with Saurabh Netravalkar sending openers Virat Kohli (0) and Rohit Sharma (3) back early. Kohli now has five runs in three innings this World Cup and faced just nine balls.
When Risbabh Pant (18) followed to leave India 3-39 midway through the eighth over, the USA dared to dream of repeating their shock defeat of Pakistan.
But Yadav (50 not out) and Shivam Dube (31 not out) steadied the innings and, accelerating sharply at the end, took India to victory with 10 balls to spare.
Yadav was dropped by Netravalkar when on only 22 at a critical moment of the match. India would have been 4-58 had the opening bowler held the catch.
India were further aided by a five-run penalty after the Americans thrice took more than 60 seconds to be ready to start an over.
The USA will nevertheless also ensure qualification for the next round if they beat Ireland on Friday.
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