Images from the ICC T20 World Cup match between India and the United States, at the Nassau County Cricket Ground, in New York, on Wednesday.
Arshdeep Singh's artistry and Suryakumar Yadav's cool composure combined well for India as they staved off the USA's challenge for a seven-wicket victory to snatch a Super Eight berth in the T20 World Cup in New York on Wednesday.
After Arshdeep's career-best 4 for 9 restricted the US to 110 for 8, India made heavy weather of an easy chase on a slightly challenging track before Suryakumar (50 not out off 49 balls) reasserted his status as the world's No. 1 ranked T20 batter.
He traded his flamboyance, waiting like a tiger on the prowl for his prey, in the company of Shivam Dube (31 not out off 35 balls), who didn't inspire much confidence despite the chase being completed in 18.2 overs.
The Surya-Dube pair added 67 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand.
The turning point though seemed to be a bit of ignorance about the rules by the US bowlers, who flouted the rule of taking only 60 seconds between the overs on three occasions and conceded five penalty runs at an inopportune time.
India needed 35 off 30 balls at that stage when umpire Paul Reiffel informed skipper Aaron Jones about the decision and that effectively ended the US resistance.
That was the opportunity Surya waited for as he then finished the match in a jiffy with a flurry of shots.
>But it was not before Saurabh Netravalkar (2/18 in 4 overs), the Oracle programmer from Silicon Valley, wrote a couple of perfect codes to remove an out-of-form Virat Kohli (0) with a delivery that shaped away and then bowled a slower one to find the leading edge of Rohit Sharma's willow.
Dube once again struggled on a slow track as India were 53 for 3 after 11 overs with 58 more to get in the last 9 overs.
The shackles were finally broken when Surya uppishly flicked Ali for a boundary towards mid-wicket and Dube, after an arduous struggle of 25 deliveries, picked Corey Anderson's slower ball to dispatch him for a six over deep mid-wicket.
India will head to Florida for the final group league game against Canada but the weather forecast in Miami is gloomy and that would certainly raise the US team's spirits as a draw against Ireland would help them knock Pakistan out of the tournament.
Earlier, pacer Arshdeep was brilliant with the ball while taking four wickets as India restricted the USA to 110/8.
After a couple of gallant batting performances in the back-to-back victories, the USA's batters found India's pace attack a few notches above in terms of class and quality.
There was hardly a phase of play when the hosts would have felt the noose being loosened around their necks. However, after scoring 42 off the first 10, the US, with useful contributions from Nitish Kumar (27), Steven Taylor (24) and former New Zealand international Corey Anderson (15), added another 68 in the back-10.
Once Arshdeep got a couple of breakthroughs in the opening over, including a first-ball wicket of Shayan Jahangir, there was no looking back for the Indians.
They never had a slip-up in terms of intensity, mixing up fuller deliveries with ones that were pitched on back of length. The left-arm pacer was fantastic both at the start and at the death, bowling an incredible 17 dot balls.
Arshdeep had a dream first delivery of the game as he got one that was pitched on a length and darted back enough to catch Jahangir (0) plumb in-front.
The last delivery of the same over accounted for Andries Gous (2), who was late on a pull-shot off a delivery that was dug in short.
>The Powerplay yielded only 18 runs and skipper on the day Aaron Jones (11) could hit one six off Mohammed Siraj as he was forced to block most deliveries before.
Hardik Pandya (2/14 in 4 overs) ended his misery with a short delivery which he top-edged to Siraj at deep fine leg.
The quality of opposition also gave skipper Rohit Sharma a chance to check out Shivam Dube (0/11 in 1 overs), the weakest link in both batting and bowling department.
Opener Taylor, who survived the Powerplay, hit a big six off Axar Patel only to drag the next one back to the stumps.
However, Nitish (27 off 23 balls) proved to be a thorn in India's flesh with some lusty hits including a picturesque straight drive after a maximum off Pandya while his able ally Anderson slog swept Axar for a maximum in the cow corner region.
But a superb catch by Siraj at the mid-wicket boundary brought Nitish's downfall as half of the side was back in pavilion for 81. Once Nitish was gone, USA's dreams of scoring 120 were also dashed
