Mumbai: USA pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk was elated with his brilliant personal effort against India and felt Suryakumar Yadav’s innings made all the difference in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match at the Wankhede Stadium, on Saturday.
Shadley felt to have a team like India under 170 was a sensational effort by the bowling unit and that was the kind of target they were looking to chase anyway.
“I think we do. I think any side at the half-way point if you can have India for 170 or under that. If you see that at the beginning of the game, I think we'd have definitely a fair shot chance. It's a really good side. But I think you have to give it to SKY (Suryakumar Yadav). He played unbelievably well. And you have to give credit where it's due. I think that was the main difference definitely,” he added.
Talking about their chase of 162, Shadley opined that losing early wickets hampered their chances of winning but gave credit to the partnership between Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Milind Kumar.
“I think everyone stuck to what they can. The plans came off quite well. Losing a few wickets in the powerplay always puts you on the back foot. But I think Sanjay and Milind actually battled well through the middle to get us sort of going again,” Shadley said.
The pacer remarked that the fans would be might proud of the effort put in by the USA team.
“And also proud of our boys also from what we've done. I think a lot of people were watching and really proud of them.”
Talking about fellow pacer Saurabh Netravalkar, Shadley felt he had an off day on the field.
“I think Saurav has been unbelievable for us and he's still an absolute gentleman. I can't say for us how great he would be. Unfortunately, he had an off day today and bonus to that in T20 cricket. There was a little bit of a momentum shift towards the end,” he added.
Shadley felt 170 was a chaseable score is what they felt by their initial analysis.
“There's a little bit more pressure, a little bit less risk I guess. I think it's easier always to say in hindsight. But at the same time, like I said at the beginning, we said 170 at the beginning of the game.”
Shadley did feel there was a bit of stickiness on the wicket which caused problems for India early on in the powerplay.
“I think it's a bit of both. I think the wicket was a little bit sticky and stoppy if we're honest. But at the same time the guys bowled well. I think everyone started well in the power play. They hit their lengths properly.
So when you do that, batters can't really go after you. So I think the grip to the bowlers in the power play was 100%. But at the same time, we had a little bit of conditions to help us at the beginning because it was a bit slow and a little bit stoppy,” he added.
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Shadley was of the opinion that facing teams like India for an associate nation like USA is a rare thing, so he was thrilled with the team’s performance.
“You don't get to face oppositions like India that often. Last time you faced them was in the 2024 World Cup. So as a professional bowler yourself, how do you go about planning your spells? Do you rely on a lot of video evidence? From your personal standpoint, how is planning for you like? I'm going to say yes and no.
I think if you overplan, you tend to think that players are a lot better than they are. So I think the players all year are incredible, firstly. But I think overplanning can become something that makes you a little bit more too nervous.”
