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Player of the Match Harmeet Singh claimed that his squad was “no walkovers” following USA’s victory over Bangladesh in the opening Twenty20 International at Prairie View.
Bangladesh is 10 places ahead of the USA (19th) in the format, but it was hardly noticeable on Tuesday. They held Bangladesh to 153 for 6, and with three balls remaining, they managed to reach the objective. With their 2021 victory over Ireland, it was the USA’s second-ever victory over a Full Member team. After giving up just 27 runs in four economical overs, Harmeet hit an unbeaten 33 off of just 13 balls.
“You don’t always get an opportunity to win a game against a big side like this every day,” Harmeet said. “The way the boys have been training, it is a personal effort from everybody. It means a lot to us to put on a show against Bangladesh. We are no walkovers. I think our potential is immense. We have a lot of match-winners in the team. It gives us the edge. We bat as well now.
“A lot of guys can also bowl two to four overs, like Steven [Taylor] did. Nitish [Kumar] and Milind [Kumar] can bowl a few overs. We have bench strength too. The competition within the team is helping us. Everyone wants to do well, and that’s helping the side.”
When Harmeet hit three sixes and two fours in the final four overs, USA needed to score 55 runs. Corey Anderson, who was not out on 34 deliveries, and Harmeet added 62 runs for the sixth wicket without giving up.
In Harmeet’s opinion, Bangladesh committed a tactical blunder when they choose the incorrect end for Mustafizur Rahman, who had already destroyed them with two wickets in the twelfth over. However, by exchanging ends, the high winds of Prairie Valley gave the batters an advantage over the other bowlers. In the end, Mustafizur gave up 32 runs in his final two overs.
“We believed that Fizz will bowl against the wind overs but when I saw him bowl from the other end, with the wind, I thought we had a chance to sneak in a 20-run over from the other side,” Harmeet said. “I think either they took us lightly; or I don’t know. They didn’t have bowlers to bowl with from the other side.
“They had Shoriful [Islam] for one over, and someone had to bowl that last over. They were thinking probably they’d get us out. I told Corey that if we hang in there, [and] give ourselves 20 runs in the last over also, we have a chance to win here. We ended up needing under ten runs in the last over. They started from the end that had the wind. They finished on the other end. We backed ourselves in the last over.”