'USA gave us nervous moments, their energy and enthusiasm was promising,' says Sachin
India prevail by 29 runs at Wankhede as associate side earns praise for competitive showing
USA lost the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament opener against India on Saturday night but there is something to cheer for in their gritty performance at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Legendary Sachin Tendulkar has applauded their performance in front of a packed Mumbai crowd.
A day after the match Tendulkar posted on X: “When new teams step up to the occasion, cricket’s global rise accelerates. USA cricket did that yesterday, and their energy and enthusiasm was promising!”
Sachin felt cohosts India had a “tense start, but a calm finish for Team India. USA came close to giving us some nervous moments, but Suryakumar Yadav’s experience and composure under pressure guided India to a respectable total. Our bowlers did the rest for us.”
Put into bat by USA, the Suryakumar Yadav led side was struggling with half the team back in the dugout by the 12 over of their innings with
But SKY’s 49-ball 84, including 10 fours and four sixes, helped India post 161/9. USA were undone by their batters as they could score only 132/in their 20 overs, losing by 29 runs.
The Master Blaster praised Suryakumar Yadav for his experience and hoped for a wonderful tournament ahead. “Well done Team India, always good to start on a winning note,” Sachin said.
Notably, three members of the USA team - Saurabh Netravalkar, Harmeet Singh and Shubham Ranjane, have their roots in Mumbai, having played cricket here in their formative years.
Another legend Sunil Gavaskar and former wicketkeeper-batsmen Parthiv Patel also acknowledged the tough challenge posed by an associate team over a cricketing powerhouse. They were pretty impressed by the USA bowlers who put consistent pressure on India’s top order batters by laying an outside the off stump trap.
