India, led by skipper Suryakumar Yadav's brilliant 84, defeated the United States by 29 runs in their opening match of the Twenty20 World Cup. India were under intense pressure and faced the prospect of defeat at times in the Group A match at the Wankhede Stadium. But in the end, India managed to pull off a comfortable victory. With this, the defending champions' title defence campaign has begun.

India, who were invited to bat first, overcame a poor start and scored 161 runs for 9 wickets. India was in a weak position after losing 6 wickets until they scored 77 runs at one point. From there, captain Suryakumar took charge of the innings and scored 84 runs in 49 balls. That included 10 fours and 4 sixes. For the co-host country, India, Tilak Verma scored 25 and Ishan Kishan scored 20 runs. Sadley van Schalkwik played a major role in destroying the Indian batting order.

He took 4 wickets for 25 runs. One of them was a four-wicket performance in an over. In reply, the associate country, the United States, could only score 132 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. The US did not start well. Sanjay Krishnamurthy scored 37 runs, while Shubham Ranjan also added 37 runs. Milind Kumar contributed 34 runs. Among the Indian bowlers, Mohammed Siraj took 3 wickets for 29 runs. Ashardeep Singh and Axar Patel took 2 wickets each. 

  West Indies-Scotland

Romario Shepherd's hat-trick helped two-time champions West Indies register an impressive 35-run win over Scotland in the next match on Saturday. Chasing a target of 183 for victory at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Scotland were bowled out for 147 in 18.5 overs. Shepherd, the hero of the West Indies win, took 4 wickets in the 17th over. His overall performance was 5 wickets for 20 runs. 

This is the first 

hat-trick wicket in this World Cup. This is the tenth hat-trick in the Twenty20 World Cup. For Scotland, captain Richie Barrington, who got a chance to play the World Cup at the last moment in place of Bangladesh, scored 42 runs in 24 balls. He hit 3 fours and 2 sixes. Tom Bruce was dismissed for 35 runs in 28 balls. Among other West Indies bowlers, Jason Holder took 3 wickets for 30 runs. 

This win has given West Indies 2 points in Group 'C'. Batting first, West Indies scored 182 runs for the loss of 5 wickets for 64 runs by Simran Hetmyer. Hetmyer hit 2 fours and 6 sixes in 36 balls. Brendon King contributed 35, Rahmon Powell 24 and Serfan Rutherford 26 runs. Scottish bowler Brad Curry took 2 wickets for 23 runs. 

Pakistan-Netherlands

Pakistan's victory in the opening match was a struggle. The team defeated the Netherlands by 3 wickets with three balls to spare at the Sinhala Sports Club Cricket Ground in Colombo. The 2 points obtained in this victory will be a big relief for Pakistan, which has announced to boycott the match against India. Pakistan had decided to bowl after winning the toss. 

In that order, the Netherlands scored 147 runs before being all out in 19.5 overs. Scott Edwards scored 37 runs off 29 balls. Bas de Lied scored 30 runs. The other batsmen could not contribute much. Among the Pakistani bowlers, Salman Mirza took 3 wickets for 24 runs. In reply, Pakistan, helped by opener Sahibzada Farhan's 47 runs, scored 148 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 19.3 overs.