ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav, Siraj shine as India wins opener against America
ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026: India has started its T20 World Cup campaign with a victory. The team defeated the USA by 29 runs in Saturday's match. At the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India, after losing the toss and batting first, scored 162 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs. The Indian team lost its first four wickets for just 46 runs. Captain Suryakumar Yadav scored 84 runs off 49 balls to guide the team to a respectable total.
Chasing a target of 162 runs, the USA team could only manage 132 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs. Shubham Ranjane and Sanjay Krishnamurthy scored 37 runs each, while Milind Kumar contributed 34 runs for America. For India, Mohammed Siraj took 3 wickets, while Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel took 2 wickets each.
Team India's batting falters in the opening overs
Batting first against the USA, the Indian team suffered a major setback in the very second over. Opening batsman Abhishek Sharma was dismissed on the first ball without scoring a single run. He was bowled by fast bowler Ali Khan. After Abhishek's dismissal, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma tried to stabilize the innings. The duo put on a 37-run partnership for the second wicket off 24 balls, which helped the team recover to some extent.
Schalkwyk captures 3 wickets in 6th over
American bowler Shadley van Schalkwyk delivered a superb spell in the final stages of the powerplay, taking three wickets in the sixth over. This over significantly slowed down the Indian innings. Following this, Rinku Singh couldn't stay at the crease for long and was dismissed after scoring just 6 runs off 14 balls. Hardik Pandya also failed to find his rhythm and returned to the pavilion after scoring only 5 runs off 6 balls. Axar Patel contributed 14 runs off 11 balls to help boost the team's score. Arshdeep Singh added 4 runs off 6 balls, while Varun was run out.