India 161 for 9 (Suryakumar 84*, van Schalkwyk 4-25, Harmeet 2-26) beat USA 132 for 8 (Ranjane 37, Krishnamurthi 37, Siraj 3-29, Arshdeep 2-18) by 29 runs
A bit of planning, a bit of changes of pace
The moment USA asked the clearest of favourites in any T20 World Cup to bat first, talk revolved around 300. Not without reason: India have crossed 250 three times since the last World Cup, and here they were on a generally true batting surface, a small playing field and an Associate team to take on.
USA began with square leg and sweeper cover as the two men outside the ring. Abhishek Sharma, the best T20I batter in the world, fell for a golden duck to deep cover. Shadley van Schalkwyk then took three wickets in the last over of the powerplay: Ishan Kishan to a slower full ball, Tilak Varma to a quick short ball and Shivam Dube for another golden duck to a slower short ball. Perhaps because of extra grass and moisture in order to have the square last the tournament, the pitch just had a bit of grip to make these wickets possible.
Ranjane drops Suryakumar
Mohsin, Harmeet tie India down
A tall and quick legspinner, Mohammad Mohsin kept the choke hold in the middle overs. Not having conceded a single boundary in the first 15 balls, he created a long-on catch from Rinku Singh. Harmeet Singh, another former Mumbai player, then got the current Mumbai Indians captain, Hardik Pandya, caught at deep cover, again the ball stopping on him.
Suryakumar stands tall, USA fall apart
Once Harmeet got Axar Patel caught at deep midwicket to make it 118 for 7 in the 17th over, two things were clear. That even a tall left-hand batter was struggling to time left-arm spinners, which meant India had a chance. And that Suryakumar still had work to do.
Just as India started to open up, Ali Khan – two overs for 13 runs – injured himself while diving. Ranjane took up the bowling job, bowled well and then injured himself diving in his followthrough. Suryakumar then took full toll of the 20th over, bowled by Netravalkar, who now holds the record for most runs conceded in a T20 World Cup match: 65.
Arshdeep, Siraj land blows
Siraj was not supposed to be a part of this World Cup. Then Harshit Rana injured himself in the warm-up fixture against South Africa. He still wasn’t supposed to be in the XI, but Jasprit Bumrah fell sick. On he came, playing a T20I for the first time in two years, and took a wicket fourth ball, sending back the big-hitting Andries Gous. Arshdeep Singh, who set the tone with no runs off the bat in the first over, got stuck in with the wicket of Monank Patel. Siraj made it three similar wickets when he had Saiteja Mukkamalla caught at short midwicket. All three were mistimed slightly because of the slowness of the pitch.
Spinners seal the deal
With no dew around, Varun Charavarthy and Axar proved to be too good for USA on this surface. A period of 22 balls without a boundary was broken by a six by Milind Kumar, but Varun soon had him stumped. Sanjay Krishnamurthi hung in, brought the equation down to 62 off the last five overs, but Axar ended the fight with two wickets in two balls.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
