Mumbai: It’s tough getting dropped after one quiet game. Perhaps even tougher batting slightly out of position upon return.
Saiteja Mukkamalla, the USA batter of Indian heritage, put both those challenges aside to deliver a match-winning 51-ball 79 against the Netherlands in Chennai.
The 93-run romp not only gave USA their first victory of this T20 World Cup, but also against the Dutch in men’s T20Is.
His father hailing from Andhra, New Jersey-born Mukkamalla had a brief training stint at VVS Laxman’s academy a few years ago while shuffling from the US to Hyderabad and back to the US.
He has been shuffled around in this World Cup too. Dropped for the Pakistan clash after a 7-ball 2 against India, despite scoring a fifty against New Zealand in the warm-up game, the opener was drafted back into the XI but slotted in at No.3.
The demotion didn’t matter for the 21-year-old as his classy knock formed the bedrock of his team’s 196/6 on a good Chepauk pitch.
USA’s misfiring top-order had let them down in this World Cup, but their third different combo in as many games came out flying. Shayan Jahangir pulled with gusto in his cameo at the top as USA fetched 22 off the first eight balls. Captain Monank Patel held fort at the other end, while comeback-man Mukkamalla walked in with a point to prove.
He whacked left-arm pacer Fred Klaassen’s first ball for six straight down, and two balls later for another boundary over the bowler. Those shots set the tone for Mukkamalla’s big outing, and a 53-run Powerplay for a big USA total.
Mukkamalla was particularly elegant hitting in the V, against pace and spin alike. He cut Klaassen for back-to-back fours, deposited left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe behind the sightscreen, and brought up his 30-ball half-century creaming fast bowler Kyle Klein over the cover fence.
After he was holed out in the 17th over, Shubham Ranjane’s unbeaten 48 striking at 200 ensured USA’s fine foundation met its finishing flourish.
Netherlands were never really in the chase. They lost three wickets in the Powerplay and in a heap after that. Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh, a former India Under-19 player who represented Mumbai in domestic cricket, scalped four Dutch batters varying his pace brilliantly.
Two Americans with a large Indian touch had one fine night in Chennai.
