Whatever happens in this T20 World Cup, the United States has already written one of the tournament’s tales. Last Thursday, following a Super Over in Dallas, the co-hosts with the West Indies startled Pakistan.
During the few days following that amazing afternoon at the Grand Prairie Stadium, this eccentric group—mostly expats from New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, and Barbados—has generated a lot of media attention and generated interest. It makes sense—this could be a turning point in these players’ lives as well as for cricket as a whole as it attempts to break into the American market.
When they play India on Wednesday on Long Island, New York, they will have another chance to create history. It is possible that these gamers won’t be able to meet the difficulty of this task, but what harm can come from wishing for another miracle?
The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium’s drop-in pitches are the antithesis of what makes T20 World Cup which might lead to a close match between the USA and India in this Group A match. The pitches at this venue have been slow and sluggish or highly unpredictable due to varied bounce in all six games (prior to Canada vs Pakistan). This has prevented batsmen from dazzling through with fours and sixes. Such tracks close the margin between teams even more in a format when it is already smaller than in ODIs and Tests.
Not that India won’t be the overwhelming favorites from the outset. Since the shocking group stage loss to Bangladesh in the Caribbean 2007 ODI World Cup, India has avoided complacency in big competitions, easily defeating inferior opponents. They will approach this game with the same mentality.
With the surfaces they have had to play on, India has had excellent bowlers. They bowled out Ireland for 96 under the leadership of the incomparable Jasprit Bumrah, who won Player-of-the-Match in both games, and then successfully defended 119 against Pakistan. The hostile nature of the tracks has certainly limited the batting unit, but Rishabh Pant’s form is a huge plus.
After spending almost 15 months out of the game owing to a terrible car accident, Pant returned to India and performed admirably for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. Pant, who was moved up to No. 3 for this season, settled into his new position with ease in the warm-up match against Bangladesh, when he scored 53 off 32 balls before being out. Pant has maintained his excellent form throughout the two official games. He made a little cameo and finished a reverse lap for six in a simple chase against Ireland, but he was the main reason behind India reaching 119 against the onslaught headed by Shaheen Afridi.
In just 31 balls, Pant scored 42, and that helped India reach 81/3 after 10 overs. While the fact that India lost their final seven wickets for 30 runs is another story, the batting team on Wednesday will find solace in Pant’s aggressiveness in those opening overs.
Eight players of Indian descent are part of the US team, which adds an intriguing subtext to this match beyond the victorious side guaranteeing their qualifying for the Super Eight round. One of them is Saurabh Netravalkar, the hero of the Super against triumph against Pakistan, a left-arm bowler. A few Indian players would be somewhat familiar with Netravalkar, especially those from Mumbai.
Netravalkar was India’s top wicket-taker in the 2010 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, long before he started working as a software developer at Oracle in San Francisco. In a 2013 encounter that pitted Mumbai against Karnataka and featured Suryakumar Yadav’s squad against KL Rahul’s, he also made his only Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai. However, as is widely known, Netravalkar chose to take a scholarship from Cornell University in 2015 to pursue a master’s degree in computer science, knowing that there would be competition for spots in India. He didn’t seem to be interested in cricket until he was given the chance to play for the United States.
In addition to Harmeet Singh, a former left-arm spinner from Mumbai, and Milind Kumar, a batter from Delhi, there are additional players in this US lineup who have experimented with the local circuit in India. Monank Patel, the skipper, was a member of Gujarat’s age-group system prior to his immigration and subsequent settlement in New Jersey.
It will be a big task for these athletes to remain emotionally detached on Wednesday. After all, it would have been unimaginable for them to cross paths with India during a World Cup match. In the same way that they never would have imagined defeating Pakistan in a World Cup game.
Read More: T20 World Cup: It’s Saurabh Netravalkar & Nosthush Kenjige vs Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli in New York
