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Unbeaten India, USA set to take over New York with an eye on Super Eight spot

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6 months ago

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Unbeaten India, USA set to take over New York with an eye on Super Eight spot

Match details

India vs USA
New York, 10.30am local, 8.00pm IST, 2.30pm GMT

Big picture: Party in the USA

The New York Times is writing articles about it. Drake has been making money off it. Baseball fans have been triggered by it. Look out, America, our beautiful game is starting to take you over.

India themselves are somewhere near the front of this charm offensive, eager to tap into a market that may add to their already considerable resources. Their IPL teams already have a stake in the cricket that goes on in the USA, considering they own three of the six franchises in the country’s premier T20 competition.

The LA Olympics organising committee, when announcing that they would let cricket in for the 2028 Games, name-checked Virat Kohli and his social media following as part of the reason for their decision. And more recently, the BCCI secretary had a lovely stroll through the NFL offices.

At this point, it feels like the locals getting bitten by the bug seems a bit of a bonus than a necessity. The USA is a fertile enough outpost thanks to its rich and varied diaspora, many of whom have been flocking to the pop-up stadium in Long Island, and creating the kind of atmosphere that could rival even the better established centres.

Over in Dallas, the Nepal team even felt compelled to take a lap of honour around the ground having been overwhelmed with support. India-Pakistan was packed – in two places – with Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, hosting a watch party. On Monday morning, there were almost 23,000 on site to enjoy the Bangladesh-South Africa game.

Tight finishes and rapturous upsets have left the public with a general feeling of wanting more, and the USA team themselves have played a part in that, kicking the tournament off in grand fashion when Aaron Jones epitomised two things that make anything worth watching – skill and flair – as he struck sixes at will and celebrated each of them. Then these upstarts went and took down Pakistan, and now here USA are, eyeing up India.

It is unlikely that this game will have that kind of fairytale ending, but the simple fact that USA go into it undefeated – with two wins from two – and with every chance of progressing into the Super Eights is every bit the stuff of dreams. And as Saurabh Netravalkar’s Slack profile very clearly says, it isn’t ending any time soon.

Form guide

India: WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
USA: WWLWW

In the spotlight: Shivam Dube and Corey Anderson

India tend not to fuss with their plans unless they absolutely have to. So within that dressing room, there will be plenty of support on offer for Shivam Dube, even though he has made no more than 21 in his last seven dismissed innings, which includes four single-digit scores – including back-to-back ducks. New York is hardly the right place for his skills as a spin-hitter, if only for the fact that teams aren’t bowling a lot of spin there. But when India shift base to the West Indies, they’ll have a need for his services and they would like for him to be in good form, or at the very least, in a happy mindset.

There was a time when it seemed like Corey Anderson was the next big thing in all of cricket. Even as parts of the world was ushering in the New Year in 2014, he was going to work for New Zealand and hitting a 36-ball century. Is he still that same destructive force? He wasn’t seen in the international arena for five years since November 2018, but was still courted by the franchises in the CPL, BBL, PSL and ILT20. That’s testament to the talent he possesses, and may yet unleash at this World Cup.

Team news: Super Eights on the mind

India are well placed to make the Super Eights. USA have some work to do, but they won’t mind that. Barring any injury concerns, both teams are likely to field unchanged XIs.

India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rishabh Pant (wk), 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Shivam Dube, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Arshdeep Singh

USA (probable): 1 Steven Taylor, 2 Monank Patel (capt & wk), 3 Andries Gous, 4 Aaron Jones, 5 Nitish Kumar, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Harmeet Singh, 8 Jasdeep Singh, 9 Nosthush Kenjige, 10 Saurabh Netravalkar, 11 Ali Khan

Pitch and conditions

The New York surface has settled enough that the scary up-and-down bounce that was seen earlier in the competition seems to be a thing of the past. The game is unlikely to be upset by the weather, but it may once again be low-scoring.

Stats and trivia

  • This will be the first cricket match between India and USA across any format.

  • Jasprit Bumrah has an average of four and an economy rate of 2.85 after picking up five wickets for 20 runs in seven overs this tournament.

    • Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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