Netravalkar Shines Early, But Surya Kumar Yadav Steals the Show for India

After putting on a strong display against Pakistan, American left-arm fast Saurabh Netravalkar continued his recent winning ways in the T20 World Cup by taking early wickets of Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma, the Big Two of Indian batting.

However, he subsequently blew a reasonably easy opportunity to run backwards from short third man, providing his erstwhile Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav, who was 22 at the time and finding it tough to play fluently on the challenging New York surface, with a reprieve.

The game changed with that respite. Profiting from that slip-up, Surya struck an unbeaten fifty off forty-nine balls, enabling India to overcome the United States' eleven0-eight and win by seven wickets to advance to the Super Eight round.

After giving up 11 runs in his only over as a bowler, Shivam Dube (31 not out off 35 balls) was once again wary with the bat early on and took care not to make a dumb mistake at the other end. India were in trouble at 44/3 in the eighth over when Dube stepped in, but Surya’s presence at the other end helped alleviate Dube’s worries as their unbroken 67-run stand sent India home with 10 balls to spare.

Undoubtedly, Surya's knock should give India a lot more confidence heading into the Super Eight stage, especially in light of Kohli's failure (out on the first ball) and Rohit's continued hesitancy. Moreover, Rishabh Pant was also unable to perform anything at this particular time. That's why Surya's return to form is so encouraging for India.

At the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match between the United States and India, Saurabh Nethralvakar of the United States, on the right, celebrates Virat Kohli of India, on the left, being dismissed.
At the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match between the United States and India, Saurabh Nethralvakar of the United States, on the right, celebrates Virat Kohli of India, on the left, being dismissed.
AP/PTI
Although the US made a valiant effort, their overall inexperience and careless mistakes ultimately cost them. The US took over a minute between overs three times, therefore India was also handed five penalty runs before the 16th over of the run chase.

The Indians felt less pressure as a result, since they only needed to score 30 runs off of 30 balls instead of the true need of 35 off 30 before the penalty took effect.

Earlier on Sunday, India's confidence increased by double because of Pakistan's incredibly careless batting; bowler Arshdeep Singh (4/9) hit the first ball of the match squarely. An unbeaten India chose to bowl after winning the toss and hitting two boundaries in the first over.

In the final ball of the first over, Arshdeep removed wicketkeeper Andries Gous with a short ball, capping the innings with a delivery that swung in to catch Shayan Jahangir lbw. The left-armer really did a pretty good job of pitching short, which made it harder for the opposing batters to hit.

In addition to conceding no boundaries and bowling up to 17 dot balls, Arshdeep's fourth and last wicket was that of Harmeet Singh, who was removed by the short ball. In the T20 World Cup, his stats also proved to be the best by an Indian.

Hardik Pandya (2/14) an all-rounder, kept making contributions with the ball as well. Pandya was successful with the short stuff once more, taking crucial wickets of Corey Anderson and Aaron Jones, the interim captain.

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