Sanjay Krishnamurthi put on a show in Chennai as the 22-year-old blazed away in afternoon sun. Sanjay Krishnamurthi was a man possessed and dominated the proceedings. The toss was won by USA and elected to bat first and on the back of Sanjay Krishnamurthi’s explosive half century and Monank Patel also scoring a half-century as USA piled up 199/4 in 20 overs.
In reply, Namibia tried to make a fight out of this but Shadley van Schalkwyk’s two wickets and an all-round bowling display restricted Namibia to 168/6 in 20 overs. They did well in the first 10 overs but lost steam after that as USA notched up back-to-back wins in Chennai.
Sanjay Krishanmurthi & Monank Patel’s belligerent half-centuries power USA to 199/4.Â
Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, captain Monank Patel and Shayan Jahangir opened the batting for USA while Ruben Trumplemann had ball in hand for Namibia. The duo got off to a racing start. Monank Patel got off to a fast start as he did the bulk of the scoring while Jahangir played second fiddle as well. Both complimented each other really well and aced the powerplay phase. The powerplay score at the end of 6 overs was 65/0. The duo put on 68 for the first wicket before Jahangir fell for 22 off 18 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name after the powerplay to Willem Myburgh.
Saiteja Mukkamalla came out to bat next just after the powerplay. He played really well the other night. But here, he was a tad slow off the blocks to start things off. Monank and Mukkamalla put on 21 runs for the second wicket as things slowed down a tad before Monank fell after getting a half century as he fell for 52 off 30 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Myburgh. Sanjay Krishnamurthi came out to bat next to join Mukkamalla in the middle.
Sanjay took the attack to the opposition and played a very fluent innings. The duo of Sanjay and Mukkamalla added 14 runs for the 3rd wicket before Mukkamalla fell for 17 off 18 balls with 2 fours to his name Gerhard Erasmus. Milind Kumar came out to bat next. Sanjay and Milind got together and started to take the game away from Namibia. They accelerated as Sanjay was the aggressor of the two while Milind complimented him really well.
They played the latter part of the middle phase and then went into the death overs phase. Sanjay and Milind tore apart Namibian bowling at the death overs phase. The duo added a match defining 87 run 4th wicket stand in which Sanjay did bulk of the scoring and stole the show. Milind was a silent spectator. With four balls to go and the score at 190, Milind Kumar fell for 28 off 20 balls with one four and one six to his name to Gerhard Erasmus.
Shubham Ranjane came out to bat next with 4 balls left in the innings. He managed to hit a boundary away as 9 runs were added off last 4 balls. So, USA has finished with 199/4 in 20 overs with Sanjay Krishnamurthi unbeaten on 68 off 33 balls with 4 fours and 6 sixes to his name while Ranjane stayed unbeaten on 5 off 2 balls with a boundary to his name. 7 extras given by the fielding side.
It was a mixed day for the bowlers of Namibia. Willem Myburgh was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/22 in 4 overs. Gerhard Erasmus the captain finished with 2/27 in 3 overs. Ruben Trumplemann gave away 52 runs in 4 overs. JJ Smit finished with 0/43 in 3 overs. Max Heingo finished with 0/12 in 1 over. Bernard Scholtz finished with 0/35 in 4 overs. Nicol Loftie Eaton bowled an over for 5 runs. So, that meant Namibia needed 200 runs to win off their 20 overs.
All-Round bowling performance led by Shadley van Schalkwyk helps USA win by 31 runs.Â
Chasing 200 runs for the win, Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck came out to open the batting for Namibia while Ali Khan had ball in hand for USA. The openers made a solid start in powerplay as they added quick runs and gave the team the platform to score runs. The duo dominated the powerplay. They put on a useful 54-run stand for the first wicket before Frylinck fell for 19 off 15 balls with one four and one six to his name to Shadley van Schalkwyk.
Nicole Loftie-Eaton came out to bat inside the powerplay. The powerplay score at the end of 6 overs was 57/1 and off to a racing start. The duo carried on and kept the fight going for Namibia post the powerplay. They added another 40 runs in the next 4 overs and the score was 97/1 in 10 overs at the halfway stage of the game and needed 103 runs off 60 balls.
But it is from overs 11-15 is where USA hit back and Namibia lost their way by losing wickets at crucial times. The duo added 45 runs for the second wicket before Loftie Eaton fell for 28 off 17 balls with 4 fours to his name to Saurabh Netravalkar. Gerhard Erasmus the captain came out to bat next. Steenkamp was the set batter with Erasmus as the run rate slowed down and added 13 runs for the third wicket before Steenkamp fell for 58 off 39 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Shubham Ranjane. JJ Smit came out to bat next.
Erasmus and Smit tried to forge a partnership but could add only 11 runs to the tally before Erasmus fell for 6 off 10 balls to Shadley. Keeper batter Zane Green came out to bat next. Green and Smit again added a few crucial runs and tried to take Namibia closer to the target. The dup added 26 runs to the scoreboard before Green was retired out to 18 off 13 balls with 2 fours to his name. Ruben Trumpelmann came out to bat next.
Smit and Trumplemann added 19 runs between them before Smit fell with one ball to spare for a well made 31 off 23 balls with one four and one six to his name to Ali Khan. Dylan Leicher came out to bat next and faced the last ball of the innings and it was a dot ball. Ruben Trumpelmann remained unbeaten on 3 off 2 balls. Dylan Leicher remained unbeaten on 0 off 1 ball. Namibia finished with 168/6 in 20 overs. 5 extras given by the fielding side.
Shadley van Schalkwyk was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/30 in 4 overs. Saurabh Netravalkar finished with 1/27 in 4 overs. Ali Khan finished with 1/43 in 4 overs. Shubham Ranjane finished with 1/6 in 1 over. Milind Kumar finished with 0/27 in 3 overs. Mohammad Mohsin finished with 0/10 in 1 over. Harmeet Singh finished with 0/25 in 3 overs. So, USA won by 31 runs and made it two wins out of four games. Sanjay Krishnamurthi was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead.Â
So, USA wins their second game in 4 games and keep their slim hopes alive while Namibia have lost 3 games and are out of the tournament. They will face Pakistan in their last league game in Colombo on Wednesday. The big game is ahead of us as India takes on Pakistan live from Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium in a Group A clash soon. Let’s see how things pan out in the big clash.
Also Read:Â ICC T20 WC 2026: Namibia Has Made A Strong Start To Big Chase.