When the USA beat Bangladesh in the first T20I on May 21 in Houston by five wickets, many perceived it as a one-off win by a combination of some Indian expats and other ex-cricketers. When USA repeated their feat on Thursday, it became amply clear that they are no pushovers in the T20 World Cup 2024, at least in home conditions.
USA Beat Bangladesh Twice, Win Series
In the first match of the series, after batting first Bangladesh scored 153 in their 20 overs. USA managed to chase down the target with five wickets and three deliveries to spare. For the hosts, Steven Taylor bagged 2/9 and then scored 28. Harmeet Singh went on to score 33 from 13 deliveries to take his side to a win.
Come the second match, USA won by six runs. After scoring 144, Bangladesh was restricted to 138. Skipper Monank Patel scored 42 from 38, while Saurabh Netravalkar returned with figures of 2/11. These two were the major contributors in the win. That just goes on to show the dominance of Indian expats and former India cricketers in Team USA.
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Stats of Ex-India cricketers in Team USA
That just goes on to show that Team USA has some very good players, especially from India, who are plying their trade elsewhere now. Hence, it is worthwhile to look at the stats of some of these players.
USA skipper Monank, for starters is an ex-player from Gujarat. He was an active player for the state till his U-19 days, before making a move to the USA. Till now in his T20I career, he has played 25 matches, and scored 441 runs at an average of 22. He has two fifties till now.
Harmeet Singh, an all-rounder from Mumbai has even played first-class cricket for his state. And even an IPL match for Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors India. He has played six T20Is for USA till date, and picked up as many wickets. He also has 81 runs to his name.
Then there is all-rounder Milind Kumar, who played for Delhi in FC cricket. He had an impeccable record in 46 matches, where he scored 2988 runs at average of 46. He was associated with Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past, but didn’t play a game.
Lastly, there’s techie Saurabh Netravalkar, the left-arm fast bowler who is USA prime bowler now. He has played a FC match for Mumbai in 2013, and picked up three wickets there. He was there in the India U-19 team as well, and played in CPL for Guyana Amazon Warriors. He has 27 wickets in 26 T20Is.
United States T20 World Cup Squad
Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir.
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