India beat USA by 7 wickets: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Group A – updates

That’s it from our live coverage of India against USA.

A seven-wicket win means Group A belongs to India and they have secured Super Eights qualification.

USA’s future remains in their own hands. If they avoid defeat against Ireland on Thursday, then they’re through.

Do join us for Bangladesh against the Netherlands on Thursday if you can.

For now, though – from me, Kevin Hand – it’s goodbye.

It’s nearly time to say goodbye from the live coverage of India against USA. But first, it’s goodbye to the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

The pitch came in for a lot of criticism, but the venue brought the fans, who themselves brought the noise.

The matches were low scoring, after some bowler-friendly surfaces, but they were tight affairs and produced the greatest upset in T20 World Cup history with USA’s win against Pakistan.

The group moves to Florida in the US next. Then the tournament moves to the Caribbean thereafter.

Thanks for the memories, New York!

On Thursday, attention switches to Bangladesh against the Netherlands in a clash to try to join South Africa in qualifying from Group D.

The Proteas have picked up three wins from three games and now can’t be caught.

Both Bangladesh and Netherlands have one win from two games, so they could still finish level on points with South Africa.

They will both have their eyes on second spot. The match starts at 10:30am local time (15:30 GMT).

We’ll also bring you all the reaction to the West Indies game against New Zealand that is still to come today – and the build-up to England against Oman, which follows Afghanistan against the Netherlands.

Should Ireland win their final two games, against USA and Pakistan, then they will move to four points.

That could open the door to Paul Stirling’s side scrambling through to the Super Eights at the last minute.

That would also require Canada to fail to win against India in their final game.

Ireland will definitely be firing on Friday against USA, which could bring the group to a thrilling finale on Sunday.

The forecast for Friday and Sunday in Florida, where Group A comes to its conclusion, doesn’t look good.

A washout against Ireland on Friday, and with it a point, will be enough for USA to progress to the Super Eights.

Similarly, a defeat for USA on Friday, but a washout for Pakistan on Sunday will not be enough for the latter to progress.

The India captain told the post-match ceremony that the USA game played out much the same way as the other two games in New York.

“We knew it was going to be a tough task to score that many runs on the board,” Rohit told the post-match ceremony. “We lost some wickets up front, but credit to take the game to the end.

“A lot of these USA guys we played cricket together [at youth-team level] and I’m very happy to see them progress. They are going from strength to strength and making progress.

“We knew that bowlers had to take the lead. We knew run scoring is difficult on this pitch.

“It is a big relief [to qualify]. Playing cricket here wasn’t easy. All three games could have been anyone’s game, and you had to stick to the end and take the game as deep as possible. We can take a lot of confidence from this.”

“I would say we were 10-15 runs short on the wicket; 125-130 would have been a tough total,” he told the post-match ceremony.

“The boys were pretty disciplined today. It was really pleasing for me for the bowling unit to bring the game so close.

“We want more fans for USA cricket and we’ve been talking about it a lot over the years and we are trying to enjoy it.

“We will regroup and come hard for Ireland [on Thursday] for sure.”

India’s bowler Arshdeep has been named the Player of the Match for his career-best figures of 4-9.

“Very, very happy with the performance. In the last two games, I gave a little more runs and wasn’t very happy with that. But the team always showed belief in me, so I had to deliver for them,” he said.

“The wicket is very different for fast bowlers and it’s helping us get some seam moment, so the plan was simple … just let the ball do the talking,” he added.

“That was the talk in the dressing room that don’t give easy balls to score runs because our batsmen are also facing the difficulties to score runs. The plan was to hit the hard lengths and see what the wicket helps.”

USA remain in second spot on four points from three games with a net run rate of 0.13

Pakistan are third with two points from three games and a net run rate of 0.19.

A win for Pakistan on Sunday would see them go through if Ireland beat USA on Thursday.

Should USA beat Ireland, who are bottom of the group with two defeats from their opening two games, then Pakistan’s fate will be sealed before they bowl another ball.

We’ll confirm what this does to the table in just a moment.

Three wins from three and India cannot be caught in Group A now. They progress to the next stage – and are the first to do so.

India have chased with intelligence, Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube in particular, keeping the big shots in check until they felt confident the ball was in their scoring zone.

There’s no shame in this loss for the USA. Their seamers have done what works on this surface – put it in roughly the right area and let the pitch do the rest. But the run rate required was always just a few mighty blows away. SKY and Dube provided them.

A drive down the ground for a couple by Dube seals the win with 10 balls to spare.

That marks the highest successful chase at this ground.

Suryakumar has played a match-winner’s role for India, hitting a half-century to spearhead their chase.

The all-rounder was under pressure after India lost the early wickets of Kohli and Rohit, but he responded brilliantly, first forming a partnership with Pant and later Dube.

That’s his 18th half-century in T20 internationals.

Just four runs are needed from 12 balls and the victory is in sight for India. Suryakumar and Dube are happy to milk the bowling now.

The former has 49* from 48.

India only need 9 from 18 now that Suryakumar follows the six with a scooped four. India are rattling along.

Two singles start the over from Van Schalkwyk before Suryakumar drives six over extra cover.

That shot brings up the fifty partnership off 55 balls.

India look full of confidence now after the pick up in boundaries and the penalty. Jasdeep’s over finishes with two dot balls after three singles followed the couple to begin. Just 24 needed from 24.

The USA took more than a minute between overs on three occasions. As per the new rules, that means, five penalty runs were awarded to India.

That’s going to hurt USA’s hopes of pulling off a victory here.

According to the rules, the fielding side must be ready to start an over within a minute of the previous one ending. If they fail to do so, they will be allowed two warnings by the umpires, after which a five-run penalty will be imposed for the third offence and every subsequent one.