In theory, Wednesday’s Cricket World Cup match between the US and India is a home game for the Americans. However, fans of the Indian cricket team came out in full force, taking over the raucous crowd at Eisenhower Park on Long Island, approximately 97-3.
Unlike Sunday’s match against Pakistan in which the perennial rivals faced off to high stakes, despite the low scores, Team India fans arrived in Nassau County to see their team shine on the world stage.
And so far, India has dominated on the pitch.
After 11 overs out of 20, the U.S. earned just an abysmal 48 runs. For context, India’s winning score of 119 against Pakistan is considered incredibly low, and the U.S. cannot even keep up that pace.
This performance comes after the Americans claimed one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history as they defeated Pakistan in Dallas Thursday.
The US has been pushing for aggressive batting and saw some good results — three 6s and a 4 over the last few overs and the score was pushed up to 80/4. It’s still far below the pace the U.S. needs to be at through 14 overs, but it is a glimmer of this team’s potential moving forward in the group stage.
Just as the momentum began to rise for the U.S., bowler Nitish Kumar was robbed of 4 and caught out with a huge grab by India’s Mohammed Siraj in the 15th over.
The U.S. finished batting with 110/8. The Americans were always fighting an uphill battle today, but winning with this score is improbable.
Still, fans of US remain in high hopes as the home team is holding its own. In a stunning moment of the game, Indian phenom Virat Kohli was called out on the second ball, causing the U.S. team and fans to erupt into cheers.
Many the India fans at the match, who immigrated to the U.S., are now chanting “U-S-A!” after a second Indian player is out.
However, India climbed out of its early hole with its first six of the afternoon. Suddenly, it’s sitting on 24 runs.
Through the first six overs — which are known as the power play because the fielding team can only be two players deep — India has a score of 33/2. That’s not a particularly great score, in truth, but it’s good enough that they don’t have a ton to worry about with a score of only 110 to beat.
What’s looking clear is that if the U.S. had scored just 10 more runs, an upset could be possible. Even though Team USA is defending well and at the halfway point in India’s turn at bat, it’s earned just 47 runs, stopping India before 110 is an incredibly steep ask.
Through 12 overs, India is on 55 runs, exactly half of what it needs to tie. The big picture hasn’t really changed — the Americans’ chances remain low. However, India needs slightly more than it’s getting to catch up in time.
While the United States’ defense has been stellar, it likely will be hurt by a missed opportunity as one of their fielders dropped a pop-up. That would have been its fourth wicket, but gave India a couple of runs.
India eventually found its stride in the last several overs, sealing the match in the 19th over with a double to win 111/3 by seven wickets and 10 balls to spare. The US defended well for much of the game but didn’t have enough hitting and let India break through at the end to take decisive control of the game.
Team USA’s cinderella story may not come to an end, even if it loses to India. The match likely secured India’s position in the Super 8, but the U.S. likely will also advance if it manages to defeat Ireland Friday.
