<p>Mumbai: The chatter ahead of India’s opening T20 World Cup game against the United States of America was how much north of 200 would the defending champions post if they took first strike at the Wankhede Stadium here. Given the short boundaries, a ground famous for seeing big totals and Indian batters’ rip-roaring form, it wasn't an outlandish prediction.</p>.<p>And when US skipper Monank Patel surprisingly asked the Indians to bat first on Saturday, the expectations were huge. But all of those hopes fell flat when medium pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk scalped three in the final over of Powerplay to reduce India to 46/4. It worsened when India slipped to 77/6 as batter after batter, barring Suryakumar Yadav who struck a magnificent 49-ball 84 not out, struggled on the tacky surface.</p>.<p>The ball wasn’t exactly coming onto the bat like it would normally; the two-paced surface making stroke-making difficult. Every time the Indians tried to force the pace, they ended up getting caught, mostly in the deep. Thankfully, the dew didn’t kick in and with the pitch behaving the same during the US innings, the vastly experienced Indian bowlers were able to tie them down with disciplined lines and lengths. Five of the American batters got out for single-digit scores with only Shubham Ranjane (37, 22b) able to strike the ball at a healthy rate.</p>.Suryakumar Yadav has got poise which MS Dhoni also had later in his career: Harmeet Singh.<p>Suryakumar, who grew up playing on this very ground and knows it like the back of his hand, felt the lack of sunlight could have made the track sluggish. “It was a little different wicket. But we knew when we woke up, there was not a lot of sun outside. The curator tried his best. There was not enough sunlight to have the pitch rolled and watered,” he said after producing a Player of the Match performance.</p>.<p>His deputy, Axar Patel, speaking at the mixed zone, said the team was taken by surprise and they were forced to recalibrate their plans mid-innings. “Generally, the wicket in Mumbai is flat and we took about three overs to determine what could be a good score. We were surprised because we thought that this was a flat wicket, which generally is in Mumbai. It is important to understand the nature of the wicket and the type of cricket we have been playing; we were not able to execute the shots. If it happens again, we will have the experience to take it to 160-170.”</p>.<p>The sentiment was also shared by Monank and van Schalkwyk, the duo feeling the pitch was a hard one to read.</p>
<p>Mumbai: The chatter ahead of India’s opening T20 World Cup game against the United States of America was how much north of 200 would the defending champions post if they took first strike at the Wankhede Stadium here. Given the short boundaries, a ground famous for seeing big totals and Indian batters’ rip-roaring form, it wasn't an outlandish prediction.</p>.<p>And when US skipper Monank Patel surprisingly asked the Indians to bat first on Saturday, the expectations were huge. But all of those hopes fell flat when medium pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk scalped three in the final over of Powerplay to reduce India to 46/4. It worsened when India slipped to 77/6 as batter after batter, barring Suryakumar Yadav who struck a magnificent 49-ball 84 not out, struggled on the tacky surface.</p>.<p>The ball wasn’t exactly coming onto the bat like it would normally; the two-paced surface making stroke-making difficult. Every time the Indians tried to force the pace, they ended up getting caught, mostly in the deep. Thankfully, the dew didn’t kick in and with the pitch behaving the same during the US innings, the vastly experienced Indian bowlers were able to tie them down with disciplined lines and lengths. Five of the American batters got out for single-digit scores with only Shubham Ranjane (37, 22b) able to strike the ball at a healthy rate.</p>.Suryakumar Yadav has got poise which MS Dhoni also had later in his career: Harmeet Singh.<p>Suryakumar, who grew up playing on this very ground and knows it like the back of his hand, felt the lack of sunlight could have made the track sluggish. “It was a little different wicket. But we knew when we woke up, there was not a lot of sun outside. The curator tried his best. There was not enough sunlight to have the pitch rolled and watered,” he said after producing a Player of the Match performance.</p>.<p>His deputy, Axar Patel, speaking at the mixed zone, said the team was taken by surprise and they were forced to recalibrate their plans mid-innings. “Generally, the wicket in Mumbai is flat and we took about three overs to determine what could be a good score. We were surprised because we thought that this was a flat wicket, which generally is in Mumbai. It is important to understand the nature of the wicket and the type of cricket we have been playing; we were not able to execute the shots. If it happens again, we will have the experience to take it to 160-170.”</p>.<p>The sentiment was also shared by Monank and van Schalkwyk, the duo feeling the pitch was a hard one to read.</p>