A group of Indian-origin players will be determined to trump Team India in New York on Wednesday.

Having been neat in their cricket so far in their T20 World Cup campaign, including an incredible win over Pakistan via Super Over, the likes of Saurabh Netravalkar, Harmeet Singh and captain Monank Patel — vital components of the United States team — will certainly go all out against Rohit Sharma’s men at the Nassau County International Stadium.

A win would be extraordinary, but even if they go down fighting, they will earn a lot of praise.

Quality and skills-wise, India are obviously miles ahead of the co-hosts. Particularly after beating arch-rivals Pakistan while defending a paltry 119, the Jasprit Bumrah-led bowling attack will have its tail up.

There’s also the Nassau County pitch, which has had a personality of its own and might play a key role once again.

Though the Patels and Netravalkars gave the Pakistanis a shock of their lives, doing an encore against a much more disciplined and consistent Indian side will be mighty difficult.

At the same time, the inexperience of these US cricketers when it comes to playing against a top-ranked side is also another factor that will go against them.

But, make no mistake, irrespective of the conditions in New York and the
nature of the pitch, the US will not be short on spirit no matter how well India’s batsmen and bowlers fare.

Left-arm quick Netravalkar will certainly want to have the better of his former Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav if he gets a chance to bowl to the latter, while the promising Aaron Jones will also look to emulate the kind of batting he did against Canada and Pakistan.

As for the upbeat Indians, whether they would want to maintain the winning combination or make a tweak or two in the XI — like resting Bumrah, keeping his
workload in mind — remains to be seen.

Usually, teams don’t quite wish to tamper with the XI that go on to win them matches, especially close ones. But in the current Indian team’s case, the position of all-rounder Shivam Dube does come under scrutiny, for he has had a tough time out in the middle of late.

With still a couple of games remaining for India ahead of the Super Eight stage,
one option they have is continuing with Dube against lesser-ranked opponents like the US and Canada. If he scores a 30 or 40-odd and takes wickets if he gets to bowl, his confidence level should go up, which in turn would bode well for India going into the next round of matches.

Other than that, the option of benching Dube and bringing in a specialist batsman
in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal or Sanju Samson is also there.