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3 min readUpdated: Feb 7, 2026 10:49 PM IST
India skipper Suryakumar Yadav in action during the T20 World Cup match vs USA in Mumbai. (Express Photo by Narendra Vaskar)
Suryakumar Yadav led by example with an unbeaten 84, before pacers Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj delivered with the ball as India began their title defense with a 29-run win over the USA in the T20 World Cup 2026 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
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.
Suryakumar stood tall with a 49-ball innings studded with 10 fours and four sixes, single-handedly driving India out of woods after a stunning collapse saw them reeling at 77 for six in the 13th over.
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.
AS IT HAPPENED | INDIA VS USA T20 WORLD CUP 2026 HIGHLIGHTS
The writing was perhaps on the wall when India failed to find a run on the first four balls of the innings with USA not giving any room for the Indian batters to free their arms.
While Ishan Kishan (20) smacked a six off the fifth ball to get rolling, the first blow to India came when Abhishek Sharma fell for a first-ball duck in the second over.
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The world No. 1 Abhishek hit Ali Khan’s delivery straight to Sanjay Krishnamurthi at deep cover, and for the first of the several times in the night the Wankhede Stadium fell silent. The fielding set by US skipper Monank Patel was top notch as he positioned fielders straighter than finer.
Tilak Varma (25) broke the shackles when he danced down to hit a straight off Saurabh Netravalkar in the third over and went after van Schalkwyk for three fours in the next and it looked like India were finally up and running.
However, Ishan, having smacked Ali off his pads for a spectacular six, failed to make the most of a dropped catch and hit one straight to mid-on off van Schalkwyk on the first ball of the sixth over.
Van Schalkwyk couldn’t believe his luck when Tilak failed to time a pull off a short ball off one that rose more than he expected, giving catching practice to USA captain Monank Patel.
(With PTI inputs)
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