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Team India sealed qualification for the Super 8s after beating the USA by seven wickets in their third group stage match in the T20 World Cup 2024. This was Men in Blue's first clash against the Americans and managed to defeat them in a nervy chase on a difficult wicket to further their winning record in New York. Alongside India, Australia (Group B) and South Africa (Group D) have qualified for the Super 8s.
Talking about the game, Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited the US to bat first. Justifying this call, Arshdeep Singh picked up a wicket on the very first ball of the innings before taking career best 4-9 in his four overs. Alongside Singh, Hardik Pandya picked up two while Axar Patel scalped one wicket to restrict USA at 110-8. For the Americans, Nitish Kumar top-scored with a 23-ball 27 while Steven Taylor supported him with his 24.
Chasing this total, India a terrible start as they were reduced to 10-2 and 39-3 thanks to a brilliant opening spell by Saurabh Netravalkar and Ali Khan. But steading the ship, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube started cautiously before stitching up a 72-run stand to carry India over the finish line.
Talking about this win, Rohit Sharma, in the post-match presentation said, "Knew it would be tough. Credit to us for the way we held our nerve and got that partnership. Credit to Surya and Dube for showing the maturity and taking us through. (On the Indian American cricketers) Lot of these guys have played cricket together, very happy to see their progress. Saw them last year in MLC as well, they are all hard-working guys. (On the bowlers) We knew bowlers had to take the lead, run scoring was difficult. All the bowlers did the job, particularly Arshdeep."
"(On Dube bowling) You want options and we should be able to use them as and when we can. Today, the pitch favoured the seamers so wanted to use him. (On qualifying) It is a big relief, playing cricket here wasn't easy. We had to stick through till the end in all 3 games. Will take a lot of confidence from these wins. (On Suryakumar) He showed he has a different game to him, that's what you expect from experienced players. Credit to the way he stuck through today to take the game deep and win it for us."
