USA head coach Stuart Law revealed that left-arm seamer Sauarabh Netravalkar has been full of confidence after his super-over heroics against Pakistan following another brilliant show against India. Netravalkar got the big scalp of Virat Kohli during Match 25 of the T20 World Cup 2024 on Wednesday, June 12 as he dismissed him for a golden duck.
The left-arm seamer also dismissed India captain Rohit Sharma (3 off 6) to get his team off to a great start defending a low score of 110. Following his marvellous bowling performance, Law showered praise on the seamer and said that had he dismissed Rishabh Pant early as well, USA might’ve won the game.
“No, it wasn’t and he was running hot. He was full of confidence after the Super over against Pakistan as well. He bowled beautifully in that game also. And look, he got the ball to do a bit. That ball that nearly bowled Rishabh Pant, if that had happened there and then, we know we could have been sitting here telling a different story. But look, he’s a class act,” said Law in the post-match press conference.
Further speaking ahead, the USA head coach revealed that he calls Netravalkar ‘Iceman’ after the Super Over against Pakistan and highlighted the importance of taking wickets to contain India.
“Call him the Iceman now after that Super over. And look, when he’s running hot like that, one more wicket at that stage could have been the difference. So, we needed to take wickets. We needed to bowl India out basically to win the game. We were never going to contain them with the power hitters they still had in the shed. Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel still to come. We needed to bowl them out so wickets up front was crucial. We just didn’t quite get enough in that power play,” he added.
USA still in contention to qualify
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Notably, Netravalkar rose to fame after successfully defending 18 runs in the super over against Pakistan and helped his team register a historic win against a big cricketing nation. Against India, he picked up 2/18 in four overs and left them in early trouble at 10/2. However, Suryakumar Yadav (50* off 49) and Shivam Dube (31* off 35) guided India home with their unbeaten 67-run partnership off 65 balls and helped them qualify to the Super 8 stage. On the other hand, USA are still in contention of qualifying for the next stage with their last game remaining against Ireland on June 14.
Source Agencies
