Powered by Rishabh Pant’s half-century, the Indian men’s cricket team defeated Bangladesh by 60 runs in the final ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up match, held at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Saturday.
The returning Pant, who hasn’t played for India since December 2022 after being sidelined with injuries sustained in a car crash, made 53 to help his side to 182 for five.
Arshdeep Singh and Shivam Dube then impressed with the ball, taking two wickets apiece as the Tigers came up short in response.
“Quite happy with how things went,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma said after the match. “We pretty much got what we wanted from the game… It was important to get used to the conditions. It’s a new venue, new ground, drop-in pitch – it’s important to get used to it and we managed pretty well.
“Even the bowlers did pretty well. All in happy, happy with how things went,” Rohit summed up.
India opted to bat first in New York and lost Sanju Samson for a single but captain Rohit Sharma (23) rebuilt the innings alongside Pant.
The wicketkeeper retired after reaching his 32-ball half-century, which included four fours and four sixes, and late momentum was provided by Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya.