Sai Mukkamalla produced one of the most jaw-dropping batting displays by a USA player in ODIs, including a sequence of 47 runs off 11 balls to move to his fourth ODI century, but USA's fielding cost them dearly in a tight loss to Scotland. 

File photo credit: ICC/Getty Images

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Middle-order batter Sai Mukkamalla scored a 72-ball century in a dramatic rain-interrupted chase against Scotland, but it was not enough to overcome a series of fielding gaffes committed by numerous USA fielders in the first innings that cost them dearly in the final margin as Scotland allrounder Brandon McMullen dismissed Mukkamalla in the final over of play to keep USA at bay in a two-run result in favor of Scotland on Thursday at Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground. 
 
The Cricket World Cup League Two ODI tri-series opener showcased the best and worst of what USA has to offer, but Mukkamalla’s superlative effort in trying to overhaul a revised post-rain target of 89 runs off the final 32 balls of play fell short when Scotland captain Richie Berrington completed an incredible over the shoulder diving catch to stop Mukkamalla’s seemingly inevitable march to victory. Berrington’s catch also highlighted the gulf in fielding standards between the two sides as USA shelled at least four chances and missed a runout opportunity as well compared to a near flawless display from Scotland, especially when it mattered most. 
 
USA had reached 160 for 4 in 26.4 overs when rain stopped play in pursuit of their initial 47-over target of 322. By the time the rain had cleared, USA’s new target had been set at 249 in 32 overs. It meant they had gone from needing 162 off 122 balls, or scoring at 7.97 per over, to an adjusted target where they needed to score at 16.69 per over for 5.2 overs. Even more remarkable is that USA resumed play with three straight dots, two by Mukkamalla to end the 27^th before Milind Kumar scooped the first ball of the 28^th from Safyaan Sharif straight to Mark Watt at short fine leg. 
 
A single by new man Shubham Ranjane put Mukkamalla on strike on 56 off 61 balls with USA needing 88 off 28. What followed as furious as it was flamboyant as Mukkamalla needed just 11 more balls to score the next 44 he needed to reach his fourth career ODI century, and first against a team other than the UAE. The 22-year-old began the sequence by driving Sharif down the ground for six, before doing it again three balls later to end a 19-run over. A six off left-arm spinner Olly Davidson in the following over moved him into the 80s and he began the 30^th over off strike as Ranjane clipped a two and a single off left-arm spinner Mark Watt to bring the equation to 51 off 16. Two more straight drives for six sandwiched around a two took Mukkamalla to 97 before a slog sweep over wide long-on brought up three figures and reduced USA’s target to a suddenly very manageable 29 off 12 balls. 
 
Brad Currie swung momentum back Scotland’s way with a masterful first five balls of the penultimate over in which he conceded just seven runs and took the wicket of Ranjane, mistiming a slower cutter on a good length that resulted in a catch to McMullen at deep midwicket for 16 to end a 67-run partnership that lasted just 22 balls. Harmeet Singh entered with one ball left in the over with USA needing 22 off seven balls and the score 227 for 6 and the left-hander latched onto a full delivery to send a failed yorker attempt back over Currie’s head for six. 
 
Mukkamalla then started the last over on strike on 104 with USA needing 16 to win against McMullen’s gentle medium pace. After a first ball wide outside off stump, McMullen landed a wide yorker that Mukkamalla skied with a drive trying to go over extra cover. Berrington started to race back from his position inside the ring and covered 25 yards going toward the boundary before laying out to pull off a stunning catch that ended Mukkamalla’s day and also provided a crucial dot ball for Scotland. 
 
Jessy Singh entered at No. 9 and drove a boundary down the ground to his first delivery to make it 11 off four balls for USA to win. But he sliced his next shot to George Munsey on the ring at short third to give McMullen two wickets in three balls at the death. Mohammad Mohsin entered to bat on his ODI debut at No. 10 and struck back-to-back twos. It meant USA needed six to tie off the final ball in order to force a Super Over. But McMullen’s wide yorker from around the wicket could only be carved out along the ground through extra cover for four to end the match with USA falling just short. McMullen was justifiably named Player of the Match after his death over bowling and fielding heroics followed a first innings half-century. 
 
Arguably Scotland’s only blemish in the field happened at the start of USA’s chase when Smit Patel was put down on a difficult return chance by Currie as the left-arm pacer could only get fingertips to his left while grasping one-handed at a checked drive from Smit. The right-handed opener rubbed salt into the wound by striking the next ball for a boundary to end a 10-run over. 
 
USA’s opening stand lasted just 2.4 overs when Shayan Jahangir fell for 4 early in the third over as he tried to flick a full ball from Currie through midwicket but instead produced a skied leading edge taken by McMullen at mid-off to make it 20 for 1. Monank joined an unflustered Smit, who continued to clatter both Currie and McMullen around the ground with a series of cuts, pulls and straight drives, including one for six off Currie in the seventh that brought up USA’s team 50. Another straight drive off Sharif in the 10^th beat mid-on to the rope and brought up a 38-ball half-century for Smit, his fourth in ODIs for USA, before he hit Sharif again for four off the very next ball.
 
A 61-run stand dominated by Smit finally ended when Monank tried to muscle Sharif over mid-on in the 12^thbut couldn’t clear Michael Leask on the ring and a simple catch was taken for 12 to make it 81 for 2. Mukkamalla was off the mark first ball with a single, and Smit struck his 12^th and final four off Sharif later in the over. But Mukkamalla struggled to get Smit on strike across the next five overs as the opener faced just two deliveries from the 13^th through the 17^th overs. Mukkamalla was able to keep the score moving by flicking periodic boundaries sandwiched around an excessive amount of dots followed by a last-ball single on three occasions to farm the strike. All of it combined to take Smit out of his rhythm and unsurprisingly Smit fell on the first ball of the 19^th over for 72 off 56, given lbw after playing around a quicker full delivery from Davidson to make it 115 for 3. 
 
On his USA debut having switched from his previous international career playing for Sri Lanka, Shehan Jayasuriya scratched out 9 off 13 balls at No. 5 before slapping Watt to Leask at mid-off to make it 146 for 4 in the 24^th. Kumar joined Mukkamalla as drizzle began to fall and the New Jersey batter punched a single through mid-on off Currie in the 26^th to bring up a 55-ball half-century. One over later, the umpires took the players off the field for more than an hour before play resumed for the helter-skelter finish. 
 
McMullen took 2 for 40 off six overs in the end to lead Scotland’s bowling figures while Sharif took 2 for 48 off five. Currie ended with 2 for 52 off six. The left-arm spin pair of Watt and Davidson were the only two bowlers who bowled the maximum seven allowed under the reduced overs and ended with 1 for 55 and 1 for 39 respectively. Leask bowled a solitary over of off-spin when Jayasuriya was in the middle that ended with 11 runs conceded. 
 
USA had looked like they’d made the right call after choosing to send Scotland in to bat and holding them to 39 for 1 in the first nine overs after play started late with the match reduced to 47 overs per side due to morning rain. Saurabh Netravalkar bowled a superb opening spell that concluded with the wicket of Munsey for 20 in the seventh, flicking a half-volley to deep square leg where Mohsin took his first catch in ODIs for USA to make it 30 for 1. 
 
But Scotland accelerated quickly when spin came on and McMullen didn’t hesitate to attack Mohsin’s legspin, slog sweeping him for six over the leg side in the 16^th and 18^th overs, the latter shot bringing up the Scotland 100. Ranjane entered for the first time in the 19^th and could not hold onto a low return chance with McMullen on 49. A boundary off the next delivery brought up a 37-ball half-century for McMullen, but he fell in the following over to Jessy, driving a length delivery on the up to Mohsin’s left at mid-off for 55 to make it 112 for 2 as an 82-run stand with Finlay McCreath came to an end. 
 
Dot ball pressure resulted in the wicket of Berrington a short time later. The Scotland captain played out a maiden to Harmeet in the 24^th before chipping a gentle return catch in the following over back to Ranjane at head height for 10 to make it 125 for 3. 
 
McCreath appeared to get a second life on 31 in the next over on a possible thin edge that was put down by Smit behind the stumps off of Harmeet’s bowling. Mohsin then had a definite chance put down by Harmeet with new batter Michael English on 10 in the 29^th when a pull burst through Harmeet’s hands reaching up while fielding at midwicket. English survived another clear chance in the 30^th when trying to tap and run against Netravalkar as Kumar swooped in from mid-off but rushed a throw at the non-striker’s end with English three yards short. Another would-be maiden ODI wicket for Mohsin was grassed in the 33^rd as English got his third life on 18 when a drive was fumbled over the rope by Mukkamalla at long-on, turning a simple chance into a six to make it 169 for 3 as Mohsin disappeared from the attack following the second drop off his bowling. English whacked another six off Harmeet in the next over before Kumar replaced Mohsin in the bowling attack in the 35^th and got English out for 32 when a top-edged sweep found Ranjane at deep square leg to end a 56-run stand with McCreath at 181 for 4. 
 
McCreath had earlier brought up a half-century off 81 balls and subsequently survived a direct hit on 52 when Kumar fired a shot into the stumps with McCreath clearly short of his ground on video replays but no third umpire assistance available to use for runout decisions. However, USA could not blame the umpires when new batter Matthew Cross was shelled by Harmeet at midwicket on 2 in the 37^th over off Kumar’s bowling. Kumar was subsequently the guilty party in the next over when another runout chance was missed from mid-off with Cross on 5. 
 
Both misses proved extremely costly as Cross sparked a brutal Scotland assault on USA’s death bowlers, beginning with two fours and a six off Ranjane in the 41^st over that commenced a final seven-over sequence in which Scotland scored 97 runs. The Scotland keeper clipped Netravalkar for two fours and a six in the 42^ndbefore a single brought up a 29-ball half-century in the 43^rd. McCreath finally fell in the same over, failing on an attempted switch hit off Jessy that resulted in a gloved catch to Smit for 77 at 257 for 5. Cross went in the following over, top-edging a pull off Netravalkar to deep square leg where Jayasuriya took a simple catch for 58 to make it 271 for 6. 
 
Leask and Watt came together and showcased Scotland’s batting depth, bashing an unbeaten 50-run stand off the final 21 balls of the innings. Leask belted two straight sixes off Ranjane in a 21-run 45^th before Netravalkar calmed things down in the field by conceding just three singles in the 46^th. However, Leask and Watt each struck a four and six off Jessy in a backbreaking 22-run final over that helped create the final winning margin for Scotland. Leask finished unbeaten on 28 off 12 balls while Watt ended with 25 not out off 13 balls. 
 
Netravalkar ended with 2 for 44 off nine overs, a brilliant performance that also highlighted a tactical blunder from USA leadership to not have him bowl a full 10 overs. Instead, Jessy was the lone bowler to do so for USA and wound up with 2 for 77. Kumar opened with new-ball offspin and took 1 for 37 off six overs across multiple spells. Ranjane claimed 1 for 59 off his seven. Harmeet ended with 0 for 54 off nine including a maiden. Mohsin was victimized by poor fielding and ended with 0 for 42 off his six overs on ODI debut. 
 
Thursday’s result moved Scotland into first place on the CWC League Two points table, breaking a tie with USA. However, Scotland has played five more matches than USA. USA returns to action on Saturday against Nepal, who lost their first match of the tri-series on Tuesday by an identical two-run margin on DLS Method to Scotland.