Admin September 30, 2024
20-year-old Sai Mukkamalla produced his fourth 50-plus score in four innings on USA’s tour of Namibia as he top-scored in a narrow victory over the UAE to kick off the T20I leg of the tour in Windhoek.
Photo credit: One Africa TV
By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
Sai Mukkamalla’s extraordinary tour of Namibia continued on Monday afternoon with another half-century to top-score for USA in a 15-run win over UAE in the second match of the six-game T20I tri-series at United Cricket Club in Windhoek. After making a century and two unbeaten fifties during the ODI leg of the tour, Mukkamalla scored 85 off 54 balls, including seven fours and four sixes to lift USA to a total of 175 for 9 before restricting UAE to 160 for 8 in reply. Mukkamalla’s innings is all the more impressive when considering that the next best score in USA’s innings was 19 by Shayan Jahangir.
The win also marked the first victory for Jessy Singh as stand-in captain for USA with Monank Patel resting on the day. It was also a win for three debutants as Smit Patel and Abhishek Paradkar played their first match in the format for USA while 21-year-old Southern California left-arm pace bowler Ayan Desai made his international debut for the country.
In a change from their approach in the ODIs at the same venue a week earlier, USA chose to bat first after winning the toss. Mukkamalla and Andries Gous got USA off to a superb start, taking 62 runs from the opening six-over Powerplay. Mukkamalla had some luck early as back-to-back edges off Muhammad Jawadullah in the second over went wide of the UAE wicketkeeper Syed Haider with no slip in place for a pair of boundaries. But he quickly found the middle of the bat, driving Aayan Afzal Khan’s left-arm spin over long-on for his first six in the sixth over.
Gous fell two balls into the seventh over for 17, bowled playing back to a length ball from Jawadullah’s left-arm pace. Mukkamalla brought up a 29-ball half-century and should have been out for 51 in the 10th over but UAE captain Muhammad Waseem spilled a straightforward chance on a flat drive to extra cover off the bowling of legspinner Muhammad Farooq. Smit fell in the following over to Aayan for 11, bowled after missing a slog sweep. But Mukkamalla rubbed salt into the wound from Farooq’s previous over when he took on the legspinner in the 12th, driving him for six over long-on before pulling him over the same region for another maximum on the next ball. After a leg bye, Mukkamalla came back on strike and charged Farooqi for another drive over the long-on boundary to conclude a 20-run over that knocked the legspinner out of the attack.
Nitish Kumar fell for 6 in the 14th, slogging Basil Hameed’s offspin to Waseem three yards inside the rope at long-on to make it 125 for 2. After back-to-back partnerships of 30-plus runs, USA’s innings slowed down due to good death bowling by the UAE. Mukkamalla gave Jawadullah a second wicket trying to drive him over long-on for what would have been a fifth six but instead picked out Naseer on the boundary to make it 149 for 4 in the 16th. It began a stretch in which USA scored just 26 off the final 26 balls while losing six wickets.
Shayan Jahangir fell for 19 in the 17th over to Naseer, heaving across the line to a full ball for a straightforward lbw decision. Naseer then struck three more times in the 19th over: Harmeet Singh fell for 6 slicing a drive to short third man, Jessy picked out Waseem with a drive to extra cover for 5 before Kenjige ended the over edging behind off an attempted pull to make it 164 for 8. Paradkar and Juanoy Drysdale added a crucial 11 runs off the final over before Paradkar fell on the final ball for 6 pulling Junaid Siddique to deep midwicket.
Naseer’s excellent death bowling resulted in career-best figures of 4 for 24. Jawadullah returned 2 for 38 in his four overs while fellow new-ball pacer bowler Siddique claimed 1 for 32. Aayan claimed 1 for 30 in his four overs of left-arm spinner while Hameed’s only over ended with figures of 1 for 9. Farooq was UAE’s most expensive bowler in terms of economy, conceding 0 for 36 in three overs.
USA struck in the fourth over as Waseem’s slog sweep against Kenjige went very fine, picking out Desai at head height inside the ring at short fine leg for 8 to make it 27 for 1. Fellow opener Alishan Sharafu fell for 21 in the fifth over to Jessy, skying a pull shot to Harmeet at mid-on to make it 39 for 2.
Vishnu Sukumaran and Asif Khan kept UAE in the hunt with a 42-run third-wicket partnership that spanned 5.1 overs before Harmeet began a superb spell by inducing a leading edge from Asif on an attempted flick to midwicket that resulted in a simple return catch for 16 to make it 81 for 3. Fellow set batter Sukumaran fell for 36 off 22 balls on the final ball of the following over to Paradkar in one of the moments of the tour for USA as Nitish pulled off a stunning one-handed leaping catch running across the long-on boundary, stabbing the ball out of the air with his left hand before completing a sliding landing a yard inside the rope to make it 89 for 4.
UAE’s middle order crumbled soon after as Kenjige continued a stretch of four wickets in four overs for USA by bowling Haider for 3 in the 12th with an arm ball that beat the right-hander through the gate. Paradkar took his second wicket in the 13th as Naseer was beaten trying to flick the left-armer and was bowled for 1 to make it 94 for 6.
Hameed could have been dismissed for 13 in the 15th but Smit put down a tough one-handed diving chance low to his right off Paradkar. Harmeet struck in the following over for his second, getting Aayan to play inside the line of a sharp turning delivery that pegged back off stump for 3 to make it 111 for 7. Hameed made the most of the dropped chance to keep UAE’s hopes alive in the final four overs. The allrounder struck Jessy for six in the 17th before doing it again off Harmeet in the 18th in a sequence during which Hameed scored 24 of UAE’s 29 runs across both overs in tandem with Farooq.
In the 19th, Farooq got into the act by striking Jessy for four before an audacious six over long-off on the following ball brought the equation down to 26 off 10 balls required. But UAE failed to hit a boundary the rest of the way as Jessy conceded just four runs off the remainder of the 19th before Paradkar gave away five runs off the first four balls of the final over until Farooq was caught by sub fielder Yasir Mohammad at deep midwicket to mathematically end UAE’s hopes of a comeback. It meant that Hameed ended unbeaten on 44 off 26 balls.
Paradkar ended with an impressive 3 for 24 on his T20I debut for USA. Harmeet had an expensive final over but still ended with solid figures of 2 for 21 in four including a maiden. Fellow left-armer Kenjige took 2 for 24 in his four while Jessy claimed 1 for 48 in his four. Desai went wicketless on debut, returning 0 for 21 after taking the new ball in the field for USA. Juanoy Drysdale was the only other bowler to not produce a wicket, finishing with 0 for 19 in two.
USA returns to action on Tuesday against Namibia. The hosts are in search of their first win of the T20I tri-series after falling to UAE on Sunday by 40 runs.
