Mumbai 

United States captain Monank Patel won the toss and chose to bowl first against defending champions India in the opening match of their ICC T20 World Cup campaign at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

India, aiming to become the first team to successfully defend a T20 World Cup title, begin their title defence against a USA side that impressed in the 2024 edition, reaching the Super 8 stage. The Americans had turned heads with a memorable victory over Pakistan and competitive performances against heavyweights like India and South Africa.

Speaking after the toss, USA skipper Monank Patel—who spent his formative cricketing years in India—said the conditions influenced his decision to field.

“We are going to bowl first. It looks like a good wicket and it’s a high-scoring ground, so we’ll look to chase. The World Cup is a huge platform for us and there are a lot of expectations back home. We’ve had a good run in our warm-up matches at DY Patil. We are going in with six batters, two all-rounders and three bowlers,” Monank said.

Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav said his side would have preferred to bat first but was comfortable with the conditions. He confirmed that Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, and Jasprit Bumrah were unavailable for the match. Mohammed Siraj, who replaces the injured Harshit Rana, was included in the playing XI.

“We wanted to bat first. The pitch looks good and there’s some wind around, so we don’t expect much dew later. It feels lively already and should play well. Washi and Sanju miss out, and unfortunately Bumrah isn’t well, so Siraj comes in,” Suryakumar said.

India will be opened by Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, with a balanced mix of power hitters, all-rounders, and bowling options in their XI.

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India Playing XI:
Ishan Kishan (w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.