India sail into T20 World Cup Super retain 8s with win over USA

India overcame a gutsy effort from the USA to win their Group A match by seven wickets and progress to the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup at New York on Wednesday.

USA could muster only 110-8, but India had a nervy chase winning with 10 balls to spare with Suryakumar Yadav scoring probably the slowest 50 he’s ever made in his life off 49 balls (2 fours, 2 sixes). Yadav and Shivam Dube (31*) saw India home after they had lost Virat Kohli for a first ball duck and Rohit Sharma for 3 in the first three overs to Saurabh Netravalkar. India also lost Rishabh Pant for 18 to be 44-3 in the 8th over, but Yadav dropped at 22 by Netravalkar took India to their third consecutive win.

USA became the first team to be hit with the stop-clock penalty. As per the new rules USA were docked 5 penalty runs as they had gone past 60 seconds to start a new over three times in the innings. That penalty seemed to take the wind out of their sails and their body language dipped with drooping shoulders and frustrated faces which made the difference in this low scoring game.     

After losing the toss, the hosts lost two wickets in the very first over, courtesy Arshdeep Singh's double strike. India kept a tight lid on the scoring rate and conceded just 18 runs off the powerplay. USA struggled to get any momentum and were tottering at 42/3 at the end of the tenth over. They managed to up the ante and score 38 runs off the next four overs, thanks to Nitish Kumar's 23-ball 27, but Arshdeep Singh coming back removed the set batter and added one more wicket to his tally to finish with superb bowling figures of 4-0-9-4. USA kept losing wickets at regular intervals in the death overs to finish with a below-par score.

Scores: 

USA 110-8 (20) (Steven Taylor 24, Nitish Kumar 27, Arshdeep Singh 4/9, Hardik Pandya 2/14)

India 111-3 (18.2) (Suryakumar Yadav 50*, Shivam Dube 31*, Saurabh Netravalkar 2/18)