USA fell short of another incredible upset at the cricket World Cup, as India battled to a seven-wicket victory in New York.
USA batted first and made a disastrous start, falling to 3-2 in the first over but recovered to post a respectable 110-8.
And they made a brilliant start to defend that total, with India captain Virat Kohli falling for a golden duck on just the second ball of the game to Saurabh Netravalkar.
Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant followed and India were rocked on 39-3 after 7.3 overs.
And for a fair part of the India innings, USA made it tighter than many of the 31,000 fans at the Nassau Stadium would have expected.
But Shivam Dube and Suryakumar Yadav, who finished unbeaten on 50, led the recovery and steered India to victory and into the Super 8.
Yadvav’s 50 runs came off 49 balls included two fours and two sixes. He put on 72 runs off 65 balls for the unbeaten fourth wicket with Shivam Dube, who scored 31 not out as India finished with 111-3 in 18.2 overs in reply to 110-8 (20 overs) by the United States.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh took 4-9 in four overs to restrict the co-hosts after India had won the toss and opted to field first.
USA didn’t help themselves – they were hit with a five-run penalty in the 15th over for taking more than 60 seconds between overs for the third time in the India innings.
But overall, it was a performance to be proud of for the co-hosts in the final game in New York of the World Cup. The stadium, made up of stands from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, will now be dismantled.
‘We knew this was going to be a tough task,’ India captain Rohit Sharma said. ‘We lost some wickets up front but we showed some maturity to take the game to the end.
‘We played with a lot of these USA players and I am very happy to see their progress in cricket. They are going from strength to strength and I wish nothing but the best for them. They are hard working guys and they are marking their mark in the US.’
If USA had won, it would have knocked Pakistan out of the tournament. Next, they play Ireland on Friday in Florida. Win, and they will likely still advance to the Super 8.
‘I would say we were 10-15 runs short on that pitch,’ USA captain Aaron Jone said. ‘We knew that 125-130 would have been a tough total to chase but it goes that way sometimes.
‘I’m pleased to bring the game as close as we did and of how the boys bowled with such good discipline.
‘The crowd has been brilliant, we’ve been waiting for this for the past couple of years so we are always going to make the most of it.
‘We’ve still got a game to play, so we’ll regroup and come back hard against Ireland after some discussions.’