American dream crushers?

New York, June 11

India’s batting prima donnas would want to unchain themselves from the vagaries of a much-maligned drop-in track against an impressive but an inexperienced USA in their group stage game of the T20 World Cup here tomorrow.

India need just one more win to ensure their Super Eight berth and despite the two-paced nature of the Nassau County track, they wouldn’t like a repeat of the match against Pakistan where they lost their last seven wickets for 28 runs.

Against USA, the approach could be a high-risk one, like against Pakistan, but perhaps with higher dividends.

Even though the track has significantly bridged the gap between teams, USA, who are an eclectic mix of eight Indians, two Pakistanis, a West Indian, a New Zealander, a South African and a Dutch might just find India too hot to handle.

Even after the Super Over win against Pakistan, the American team has largely gone under the radar in its country. But tomorrow could be the day when it all changes.

The likes of Monank Patel, Harmeet Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Jessy Singh and Nosthush Kenjige all have their little Indian stories to tell and if the opposition has Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant in their ranks, it would be a touch more endearing.

It’s not every day that one gets a chance to bowl at Kohli and Rohit and face Bumrah even if it’s far from being a sweet experience. But it’s experience nevertheless, and that too of a lifetime.

“They’re pretty excited to be honest. This is the first time USA will be playing against India. So many guys in our team are from India they actually played against and with so many guys back in the past, so they definitely (would) be excited,” USA skipper Aaron Jones said on the eve of the match.

For India, it will be their last match in the Big Apple extension and the one where they wouldn’t mind batting first.

If India bowl first, there could be a high chance that USA might not be able to touch the three-figure mark against Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja.

There will be some beautiful and emotional sub-plots as well if Netravalkar gets a chance to bowl to his former Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav with whom he played in the Mumbai U-15, Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy.

“It will be an emotional moment to play against India and especially Surya as we go back a long way,” Netravalkar said recently.

For the two left-arm spinners Harmeet and Kenjige, the challenge of trying to keep Rishabh Pant quiet will be quite difficult. Both Harmeet and Kenjige will try to maintain dart-like accuracy but that could well be dismantled by Pant, who is sure to use his feet.

For Ali Khan, his extra pace and the bounce that he extracts from even benign surfaces would certainly provoke Rohit to use his pull shot frequently.

There would be Nitish Kumar, who could be cheeky with his shot selection, and prove to be a thorn in India’s flesh.