India qualified for the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket win over the United States on Wednesday, with a fifty by Suryakumar Yadav and Arshdeep Singh's four-wicket haul helping them clinch their third win in a row.
The US, second in Group A with four points after suffering their first loss in three matches, will also ensure qualification for the next round if they beat Ireland on Friday.
Put in to bat, the Americans struggled as Arshdeep (4-9) dismissed Shayan Jahangir and Andries Gous in the first over while Aaron Jones succumbed to pressure when he edged Hardik Pandya (2-14) to third man.
With the hosts struggling at 25-3, Steven Taylor (24) fought back, hitting two sixes before he played on to an Axar Patel delivery that clipped the bails.
Nitish Kumar was the Americans' top scorer with 27 but Arshdeep picked up his crucial wicket when Mohammed Siraj took a stunning catch near the boundary rope while jumping backwards.
Corey Anderson (15), Harmeet Singh (10) and Shadley van Schalkwyk (11 not out) did well towards the end to get the U.S. to a competitive 110-8.
India got their chase off to a shaky start as Virat Kohli was out to Saurabh Netravalkar (2-18) for a golden duck and captain Rohit Sharma (3) also fell to the Indian-born medium pacer.
Rishabh Pant (18) was bowled by Ali Khan and with boundaries hard to come by, Yadav (50 not out) and Shivam Dube (31 not out) rotated the strike to stabilise the innings.
Luck was on Yadav's side as Netravalkar dropped him on 22. The pair were further helped by the hosts taking more than a minute between overs three times, resulting in five penalty runs being awarded to India after the 15th over.
The pair built an unbeaten partnership of 72 runs and got India over the line with 10 balls to spare.
"(Yadav) showed he's got a different game and that's what you expect from experienced players. Partnership with Dube was crucial," captain Sharma said.
"All the bowlers did their job well, particularly Arshdeep."
"The team always shows belief in me and keeps backing me so I had to deliver for them," player of the match Arshdeep said.
Former India right-arm seamer Varun Aaron lauded Suryakumar's batting.
"Like any very good batsman, he understood the pace of the wicket. He understood what he had to do on such a wicket. And he knew that once he gets set, he could back himself to play whatever shots he wanted to towards the end of his innings.
"And that's exactly what he did today. A guy like Surya cannot lose his wicket early. He has to give himself that time and finish the innings. And that's what he did today. It was not easy at all," Aaron said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
The fast bowler further stated that the fans should appreciate Suryakumar's innings that he has played today.
"Dubey was struggling. If there was a new batter who came in after Surya was 20 of 28 balls, the new batsman would have come in on a wicket which he just did not have any time on. That would have been really bad news for India. So, people should really appreciate what Surya has done for India today. And let's be honest, the USA is not just any team.
"They have beaten Pakistan and they are bowling really well and batting really well at this point," the former Indian cricketer added.
India take on Canada in their last group stage match on Saturday.
