Gajanand Singh, Sushant Modani propel USA to historic T20I win over Ireland

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The duo staged a superb comeback with their 110-run fifth-wicket stand to stun the visitors

USA 188 for 6 (Gajanand 65, Modani 50, McCarthy 4-30) beat Ireland 162 for 6 (Tucker 57*, Netravalkar 2-26, Patel 2-27) by 26 runs

Christmas came early for USA on Wednesday afternoon at the Broward County Stadium as Gajanand Singh and Sushant Modani‘s 110-run partnership was the gift that kept on giving to the small but vocal crowd that chanted for the home side throughout a remarkable 26-run win over Ireland. On a day that was historic from the start with USA hosting a Test nation in a bilateral series for the first time, the home team decided to put an exclamation point in the history books by marking the occasion with their first-ever T20I win over a Full Member.

Dressed in their neon green jerseys, Barry McCarthy looked like he was eager to play the role of the Grinch after taking three wickets in a powerplay that reduced USA to 16 for 4 after the hosts had won the toss and chosen to bat first. McCarthy nabbed USA captain Monank Patel second ball of the match pushing with hard hands at a back of a length ball edging behind to Neil Rock. Dot ball pressure led to an impetuous charge from Xavier Marshall playing around a length ball to be bowled for 4 in the third over. Debutant Ritwik Behera played down the wrong line defending to Simi Singh to go for a four-ball duck. McCarthy was then given a third over in the powerplay and rewarded captain Andy Balbirnie by inducing a false pull from Ryan Scott to deep square leg for 8.

But just when it looked like USA’s stockings were about to be filled with coal, Gajanand and Modani came to the rescue with a record-breaking stand, producing a new high for USA for any wicket in T20Is. The pair initially focused on soaking up pressure and seeing off the early storm as no boundaries were scored from the sixth through the 11th over when USA inched along to 56 for 4. But Gajanand’s slog sweep over wide long-on for six off Simi Singh in the 12th was a harbinger of the merry power-hitting to come as USA plundered 132 runs off the final nine overs. Up to that stage, USA had only scored two boundaries but finished the second half of their innings with eight fours and nine sixes.

The left-right combo of Gajanand and Modani also caused match-up problems against Ireland’s bowlers who struggled to deal with the traditionally strong crosswind in Lauderhill that blew to the east grandstand on Wednesday. Gajanand scored all but one of his five sixes to the east side, bringing up a 35-ball half-century with an edge to the fine leg boundary. The partnership finally ended when Gajanand bottom edged a half-tracker from legspinner Ben White that was well held by Rock for 65.

More to follow

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo’s USA correspondent @PeterDellaPenna

This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.

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