T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav saves India from historic shock at the hands of USA

India’s margin of victory was comfortable in the end.

However, make no mistake. The upset, which would have been topped by the USA’s win over Pakistan in the recent T20 World Cup, was at some point.

The home crowd was quiet and in the 13th over Suryakumar and Axar Patel were at the crease with only three drivers remaining.

The United States, which has not played a T20 since April amid umpiring issues and is ranked 18th in the world, played admirably.

India opener Abhishek Sharma, many people’s tip for the best player of the tournament, clipped his first ball to deep cover and when South African-born seamer Shadley van Schalkwyk mixed up his pace to take three wickets in the sixth over, including Tilak Verma and Shivam Dubey in successive deliveries, the hosts were 46-4.

Suryakumar — known by his nickname SKY — defended Van Schalkwyk’s triple ball and made just five of his first 10 runs and 20 of his first 21 at-bats.

All his teammates struggled to time the ball, but he took some time to feel comfortable, scoring 41 for Axar.

Making the most of the reprieve by Ranjane, Suryakumar was playing a trademark sweep to the seamers for six and dropped the scoops at the end with the USA hurt by the loss of Ali Khan to injury with two more overs.

The India captain got 20 runs off the last over, meaning he finished the innings with 10 more runs than the 74 runs achieved by his teammates combined.

It was an amazing hit and much needed.