USA bank on unfamiliarity, MLC experience in giantkilling mission

When two teams at different ends of the rankings meet, the Full Member sometimes goes into the contest with limited information about the Associate. This was on show during the 2024 T20 World Cup, when USA took down Pakistan in a Super-Over finish and reduced India to 39 for 3 in a tricky chase of 111 on a bowler-friendly track in New York.

It was the first time either South Asian team was playing international cricket against USA, who were featuring in their maiden T20 World Cup. Eighteen months later, the three sides are again clubbed in the same group, and India face USA in their tournament-opener on Saturday in Mumbai. Unfamiliarity with the USA players may not be as big a factor for India and Pakistan this time, and the conditions in this World Cup are unlikely to throw up the surprises of the venues in the USA the last time around.

USA left-arm quick Saurabh Netravalkar is aware of this.

"Novelty factor, yeah, I guess it would be true because they will have less data on us, but obviously, they are far more skillful and experienced and they are one of the best teams in the world, so that is a challenge for us to then step up and see what best we can do," Netravalkar, who was born and brought up in Mumbai, said on the eve of the match against India. "But the format itself has some kind of a luck factor so if the right guys build the right partnership or we have the few key moments go for us then we can give a good fight"

USA and India have not faced each other since that 2024 clash, and the USA players believe the hosts would have watched a lot of videos and crunched a lot of numbers in the lead-up to this game in Mumbai.

"I think that yes, we are probably more unknown to them but also there is quite a bit of videos going around so I think they would have done their homework as we have done our homework as well on them," USA batter Sanjay Krishnamurthi said, sitting next to Netravalkar. "And I think it is going to be an even contest in that point of view. Obviously, like he [Netravalkar] said, they play a lot more than us and it is their own conditions as well we are going to give it our best."

Suryakumar Yadav confirmed that India had, indeed, done their video analysis of USA's players.

"We do see a lot of videos," India's captain said. "Yes, we don't play them often. But at the same time, we have a lot of preparations going on when we have bowlers meeting, batters meeting. We see the bowlers and we play similar kind of fast bowlers when we are practising in the nets as well. So yes, there are a lot of preparations behind it.

"Though we have a disadvantage that we don't get to play these nations. But definitely you have to be prepared. At this level, there is no excuse."

The USA players have rubbed shoulders with several high-profile stars in Major League Cricket (MLC), which is now three seasons old. Two of those seasons have taken place since the 2024 T20 World Cup. All 15 members of the USA squad at this World Cup have featured in MLC, and some of them have also turned out in ILT20 in the UAE, and in the CPL, PSL, LPL, BPL and SA20, gaining experience of playing with and against international players around the world.

"I think Major League experience has helped us, we have played some of the best bowlers such as [Sunil] Narine, Noor Ahmad, Rashid Khan," Krishnamurthi said when asked about the challenge of facing a mystery spinner like Varun Chakravarthy. "So I think they are all quality bowlers, but we know that they do miss as well and I think we back ourselves when we get the opportunity."

Netravalkar concurred with this point. "I think since then [2024], we have grown a lot in experience as a unit. With obviously three seasons of Major League Cricket, quite a few of our guys have gotten good gigs in franchise leagues around the world, so that experience it definitely helps. We have been playing also the 50-over Qualifiers for 2027 World Cup [WCL 2], and so far, so good, we are top of the table, we are doing decently. So that experience has increased and hopefully it shows on the field."

The USA bowlers will come up against India's relentless six-hitting machine led by Abhishek Sharma, who is set to make his maiden World Cup appearance. With conditions also expected to be much flatter in India than in the US in 2024, the work is cut out for the USA attack.

"Obviously 2024 was a different condition to play in, it was little more bowler-friendly, pitches were different," Netravalkar, USA's top wicket-taker in T20Is, said. "Subcontinent challenges are different. There will be huge crowds, more batter-friendly pitches, less margin for error, like I am talking as a bowler. So different challenges but we have prepped our best, we were a month in Sri Lanka, we had decent training facilities. So we just want to take one game at a time and play a good brand of cricket and that's what we will judge ourselves by than the results. I mean the results can go either way in T20 cricket.

"The focus will more be on minimising the damage, like you are saying there are high-scoring pitches here. So every ball that we bowl, as long as we bowl to the field, we bowl to our match-ups and maximise our chances, I think defence might be the best attack on these kinds of pitches. Hopefully we induce a mistake or a false shot, so that's the best we can do as bowlers in these conditions."

On the batting front, USA will be without the suspended Aaron Jones, the batting talisman who struck a decisive six in the last over against Pakistan in 2024.

"Aaron is obviously a senior player in this team and he performed very well last World Cup but we have a whole batting line-up full of batters with quite a bit of experience," Krishnamurthi said. "And over the last two years in franchise cricket most of us have done quite well so I think yes, we are going to miss him, but at the same time I think our batting line-up is still well equipped to fill up that gap."

Saturday's match will also be a homecoming for three USA players - Netravalkar, Harmeet Singh and Shubham Ranjane - who all played domestic cricket for Mumbai before emigrating to the US. Netravalkar had also played Under-17 cricket with India captain Suryakumar and made his List A debut under him back in 2014.

"Yeah, personally it feels like a full-circle moment for me because I learnt my cricket here, I grew up in Mumbai, and getting an opportunity to play at Wankhede which has been my dream since childhood as well," Netravalkar said. "So nostalgic, emotional, good to see and I am looking forward for my family, friends to be there and I will give my best."