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2 min readFeb 8, 2026 07:47 PM IST
India won the match by 29 runs but they were tottering at 77/6 at one point batting first. (Express Photo by Narendra Vaskar)
India great Sachin Tendulkar lauded India for keeping calm in the face of jeopardy in their T20 World Cup opener against USA while lauding the latter for the almighty scare they gave the defending champions. India won the match by 29 runs but they were tottering at 77/6 at one point batting first.
It was only a miraculous rescue act from captain Suryakumar Yadav that got them to a score of 161/9. The USA never really looked capable of pulling off an upset with the bat. “A tense start, but a calm finish for Team India,” said Tendulkar in a post on X. “When new teams step up to the occasion, cricket’s global rise accelerates – @usacricket did that yesterday, and their energy and enthusiasm was promising! They came close to giving us some nervous moments, but @surya_14kumar’s experience and composure under pressure guided India to a respectable total. Our bowlers did the rest for us. Well done Team India, always good to start on a winning note!”
Suryakumar stood tall with a 49-ball innings studded with 10 fours and four sixes, single-handedly driving India out of woods. South Africa born Shadley van Schalkwyk returned with figures of 4-0-25-4 as India’s famed batting line-up, barring Suryakumar, endured a horrendous outing with the bat and were in real trouble of being restricted for an under-par total.
Chasing 162 on a surface where most batters struggled, all USA could manage was 132/8 in 20 overs. Earlier, Suryakumar dragged India out of the mire, taking the defending champions to a sub-par 161/9 on a day of collective batting failure against a plucky USA in their tournament-opener.
It is a continuation of a remarkable turnaround in form for Suryakumar. He had scored just 218 runs in 19 innings this year at a paltry average of 13.62 and strike rate of 123.16 with no half-centuries to his name. However, he started the new year with two blistering half-centuries in India’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
English (US) ·