India captain’s masterclass helps avoid USA scare, while Windies allrounder snares hat-trick against Scotland
Suryakumar Yadav has delivered the first Indian masterclass – and rescue act – of the T20 World Cup to help dig the tournament favourites out of an embarrassing hole before they eased to a 29-run victory in their opening match against the USA.
The massive outsiders were giving their illustrious hosts a real scare on Saturday at Mumbai’s shocked Wankhede Stadium as they reduced them to a limping 6-77.
The Indians were still struggling at 7-118 with just 3.2 overs remaining — and it could have been worse if catches hadn’t been spilled – until Yadav, the man the nation knows as SKY, produced his extraordinary finishing tour de force.
Having gone reasonably sedately to that point as he sought to stabilise the team after their woeful start, he began to tee off as only he knows how, with a series of incredible strokes somehow dug out from way outside the off-stump as he tumbled over and still finding the legside boundary.
From being 36no off 31 balls in the 16th over, the skipper went into overdrive, hitting another 48 off the next 18 to finish on a glorious unbeaten 84, with his side having recovered their poise to reach 9-161. Alarm over.
On a pitch that proved more tricky than had been suspected, the Americans soon succumbed in the chase, struggling against the pace of Arshdeep Singh (2-18 off four overs) and Mohammed Siraj (3-29) before eventually finishing on 8-132.
“Only I can tell how much pressure I was feeling,” player-of-the-match Yadav noted afterwards. “But I had the belief. I knew if I bat ’til the end, I can make a difference.”
“It was a little different wicket. But we cannot brush everything under the carpet. Could have batted better and smarter – we need to bat much better.”
Earlier in Kolkata meanwhile, West Indies quick Romario Shepherd claimed four wickets in five balls, including a hat-trick, as the two-time champions thumped Scotland by 35 runs in their World Cup opener .
Chasing 183 for victory at Eden Gardens on Saturday, Scotland were 5-132 after 16 overs before Shepherd bowled his four-wicket over, running through the lower-order.
After conceding one run with the first ball of the over, Shepherd had Matthew Cross caught at point and Michael Leask snared near long-on before the bowler went on to hit the top of Oliver Davidson’s off-stump to complete his second hat-trick in T20 Internationals.
Next man in, Safyaan Sharif, survived the next delivery but fell immediately afterwards, lofting one to Jason Holder at mid-off.
Scotland, who entered the tournament after Bangladesh refused to tour India citing safety concerns, were all out for 147 in 18.5 overs.
Shepherd finished with the superb figures of 5-20, while Holder claimed 3-30.
Put in to bat, West Indies had earlier posted 5-182 with Shimron Hetmyer (64) providing the bedrock with a 36-ball knock that included six sixes.
“That was phenomenal. I think he was going to get it to be honest,” Hetmyer said of Shepherd, while celebrating his player-of-the-match medal.
“It’s not often you see a guy get five wickets and a hat-trick.”
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