American batters stumble, but Kohli-Rohit depart early

Not even the great Jasprit Bumrah was spared punishment, his third over going for 14, but the quality of India’s attack meant the tempo was too tough to maintain

The home team were in action, but it was difficult to say with certainty who were the home side. Blue was the dominant colour at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, when T20 World Cup co-hosts United States took on Rohit Sharma’s India.

For the first half of their innings, the Americans stuttered and stumbled, struggling to recover from the loss off the first ball and last balls of the first over, from Arshdeep Singh, of Shayan Jahangir and Andries Ghous respectively after being put in. The ball kept nipping around for the pacers and stand-in skipper Aaron Jones—regular captain Monank Patel was out with a shoulder injury—and Steven Taylor were completely shackled against an on-point pace attack expertly led by Arshdeep.

Only 42 came off the first 10 overs, including 11 from Shivam Dube’s only over, but the second half was much more productive as Nitish Kumar played a few excellent strokes and there was some show of intent from Corey Anderson and Harmeet Singh in the middle-order. US finished on 110 for eight from their 20 overs, certainly less than par on a surface that didn’t have too many demons even if batting was never straightforward, but respectable nevertheless.

At the time of going to press, India were 10 for two in two overs with Virat Kohli getting caught behind off Saurabh Netravalkar for a duck and Rohit Sharma spooning a catch to Harmeet Singh off the same bowler for three. Not even the great Jasprit Bumrah was spared punishment, his third over going for 14, but the quality of India’s attack meant the tempo was too tough to maintain.

Arshdeep was outstanding with his variations during a career-best spell of four for nine while Hardik Pandya, who came into the tournament with question marks over his bowling, vindicated bowling coach Paras Mhambrey’s faith in him with another controlled display marked by good use of the bouncer.

Brief scores
USA 110-8 in 20 overs (Steven Taylor 24, Nitish Kumar 27; Arshdeep Singh 4-9, Hardik Pandya 2-14) v India (Scores incomplete)

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