Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has once again shown off his vast knowledge, predicting the downfall of Virat Kohli during India’s win over the USA.
There was no upset this time for the United States as the home team was easily beaten by the cricket heavyweights at the T20 World Cup.
Suryakumar Yadav’s half-century powered India to a seven-wicket win over the US, which had shocked Pakistan last week.
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With the win, India reached the “super eight” round. The U.S. can advance by beating Ireland on Friday.
Yadvav’s 50 runs came off 49 balls included two fours and two sixes. He put on 72 runs off 65 balls for the unbeaten fourth wicket with Shivam Dube, who scored 31 not out as India finished with 3-111 in 18.2 overs in reply to 8-110 (20 overs) by the United States.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh took 4-9 in four overs to restrict the co-hosts after India had won the toss and opted to field at the Nassau County International Stadium.
After the US scored 110 runs — well short of an average T20 tally — it was India’s turn to bat.
India was in early trouble in its chase as Indian-born medium pacer Saurabh Netravalkar continued his golden run for the Americans.
After bowling the co-hosts to the upset over Pakistan, he celebrated the wickets of Indian superstars Rohit Sharma and Kohli.
Kohli was caught behind for a golden duck — dismissed off the first delivery he faced — in what surely will become a career highlight for Netravalkar.
Prior to Kohli facing his first delivery, Ponting analysed the form of the champion batter who had scored one and four in the first two matches.
The Australian focused on Kohli’s back and across movement allowing him to dominate straighter deliveries but pinpointed how Pakistan and Ireland have looked to give the batter plenty of width.
“In this tournament so far … teams are looking to bowl a lot wider to Virat than ever before, (he was) caught at third man in the first game,” he said on Amazon Prime’s coverage.
Kohli was then caught behind with Ponting stating: “we were just talking about the line, the bowlers just look to bowl to him slightly wider outside the off-stump, trying to making him find it and feel for the bowl with his hands.”
“All the homework they (India) would’ve done would be about Netravalkar swinging the ball back into the right-hander, this one didn’t, it was pushed across … what a breakthrough.”
Fellow commentator Dinesh Karthik went on to poke fun at Ponting for his knack of predicting wickets.
“You’ve done it one too many times now, it must feel really good as a commentator when you speak about something and that exactly happens,” he laughed.
“Not that you wanted Virat to get out but about how they attack outside off stump.”
Not long after Kohli’s dismissal, Sharma fell to a slower delivery after just three runs, as Netravalkar finished with 2-18 in four overs.
Rishabh Pant scored 18 off 20 balls batting at number three, but was bowled off an Ali Khan delivery that slowed low. India was down to 3-39 in 7.3 overs with the US raising visions of an even bigger shock.
Yadav and Dube absorbed the pressure, however, and battled hard to dig India out of its hole. They didn’t look to score quickly against the duo’s celebrated natural style of play, instead spending time at the difficult wicket.
India crossed 50 only after 11 overs. But the chase was given a boost when five penalty runs were awarded after the 15th over, with the US guilty of running the clock past 60 seconds between overs on three separate occasions.
Yadav then took 15 runs off Shadley van Schalkwyk’s 17th over, as India crossed the finish line with relative ease.
Earlier, Singh picked two wickets in the very first over as the Americans went down to 2-3.
He trapped opener Shayan Jahangir lbw for a golden duck, while Andries Gous was out caught for two. Steven Taylor scored 24 off 30 balls to help recover the innings.
Singh returned later on to dismiss top-scorer Nitish Kumar for 27. His knock anchored the innings after the US was down to 4-56 in 11.4 overs.
Hardik Pandya also picked up 2-14 in his four-over spell, accounting for stand-in skipper Aaron Jones (11) and hard-hitting Corey Anderson (15).