Mumbai: When defending champions India take on Monank Patel’s USA side in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup opener at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Saturday, Suryakumar Yadav and his men will leave no stone unturned to put up a command performance.
For India, the overwhelming favourites to clinch and defend their world crown, no match is to be taken lightly and not at the least a World Cup opener against a team that stunned Pakistan in the previous edition in 2024.
To get a sense of how dominant India have been in the format, the world champions have a win-loss record of 48-8 (excluding Super Over results, where they are 3-0) in T20Is since October 2023 and it is no wonder why they are hands down favourites from that point of view.
What makes their case even stronger is the ominous batting they possess in their ranks and the stats don’t lie in this case as well.
The explosive willow power that India bring to the table can be illustrated well by the fact that they have the highest run-rate of 9.69, which is the best among all T20I teams while also being the team with the most 200-plus totals between October 2023 and January 2026, which is 20 in 62 matches.
West Indies are second in this regard at 13 from 61 matches and New Zealand have 10 in 51.
It is in this context that the amateurs from the United States of America take on the cricketing superpower in their own backyard at the iconic Wankhede.
There won’t be much respite for Monank Patel and his men except for the fact that India will in all likelihood be without the services of all-rounder Harshit Rana as he is down with an injury, which as per sources is believed to be joint tenderness and is under the observation of the physios.
Apart from that, India are all good to go and the turbo-charged opening combo from the warm-up match against South Africa, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, are likely to front up for India again on Saturday when they play USA.
Sanju Samson’s loss of form has perhaps come at the wrong time for him as India are firing on all cylinders and the team management would not like to lose that momentum and especially up the order.
The rest of the batters are in rollicking form and would be raring to go come Saturday against the USA. Be it skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who has regained form and touch just in time for the marquee event, or Tilak Varma or Hardik Pandya or Rinku Singh.
India have an enviable line-up of batting riches and although it is left-hand heavy, the management would not mind that as long as they keep delivering the goods every single time as they have done in the last two years or so.
Expecting USA to create an upset here would be asking for too much perhaps but Monank Patel will have to play the finest innings of his life to run India close. He has struck a half-century against Pakistan in their famous win at the 2024 T20 World Cup and would probably take inspiration from there.
USA had won a thrilling North America T20 Cup final against Canada, also triumphing 3-0 in a series against Oman last February.
Saiteja Mukkamala is the visiting side’s highest-ranked batter at 25th in the world, sitting above the likes of Harry Brook and Cameron Green.
The 21-year-old already has international hundreds in both white-ball formats and possesses an average of 42.60 in T20s.
To put it in short, USA will be playing perhaps the biggest match in their history when Monank Patel goes down to the middle for the toss with India captain Suryakumar Yadav.
