A sweetly-stroked six over long-on from Abhigyan Kundu winked in a largely stress-free victory for India over minnows USA. But for a brief stutter after the long rain break, where they lost wickets in clusters, the record champions were clinical in grabbing full points from the opening game. The chief protagonist was medium pacer Henil Patel, who displayed craft and cunning, besides maturity beyond his age to slap a five-wicket haul, but the support act of Kundu wins the plaudits too.
Once India bowled out the USA for 107, the outcome of the game was a foregone conclusion. Even without Aaron George, they had Vaibhav Suryavanshi, depth and quality to brush aside the US resistance. Vaibhav, the 14-year-old touted to be the starriest of the stars in the tournament, departed for two, disappointing the scattered crowd. He fashioned his own downfall, by stepping out of the track and trying to dump medium pacer Ritwik Appidi out of the ground. All his bat found was an inside-edge onto the stumps. But there was little cause of concern. India rolled onto 21/1, before the rain struck. When the game resumed after two hours, India’s DLS-tweaked target was 96, which they had 37 overs to chase down.
But the Americans were unwilling to surrender yet. In the space of three balls, India lost captain Ayush Mhatre and Vedant Trivedi. The score read 25 for 3 and the USA suddenly found a streak of hope. But in came Kundu, fresh from a double hundred in the Asia Cup. Short and compact, he didn’t hang around for too long to find boundaries. The third ball was blistered to the cover fence, all smooth hands and sharp eyes. Two gorgeous on-drives, shortly, sucked all the hope out of the US bowlers. Thereafter, Kundu took the upper-hand and guided the chase with nerveless precision.
The US bowlers lost steam and hope; even the wicket of Vihaan Malhotra, the languid left-hander who essayed a sumptuous back-foot punch to get going, drew just the obligatory handshakes. Kundu, meanwhile, did not spare even half a loose ball. He slashed Appidi through backward point for a four, rotated the strike adeptly, and assuredly carried India home, with a four and six in three balls in the 18th over. Captain Mhatre confessed nerves when batting, enhanced by their opponents’ athletic fielding, but would consider the early slip-up an aberration. But signs were clear that although India’s batsmen are more hyped, the bowlers are an equally gifted group. Henil had fine support acts from pacers Deepesh Devendran and RS Amrbish, the seam trio conceding only 49 runs in 17 overs, accounting for seven wickets too.
Brief Scores: India 99 for 4 (Kundu 42*, Appidi 2-24) beat USA 107 (Sudini 36, Henil 5-16) by six wickets (via DLS).
