Milind Kumar's fifth ODI century for USA, and third against UAE, not only helped USA complete their highest ever ODI chase but also moved them one win away from securing the Cricket World Cup League Two title. 

File photo: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
USA allrounder Milind Kumar added another achievement to an already very impressive start to his ODI career, notching his fifth unbeaten century to steer USA to their highest ever successful chase in a six-wicket win over UAE on Monday at Grand Prairie Stadium in the first match of USA’s final tri-series in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup League Two competition. Milind made the most of a pair of dropped chances on 20 and 54 to finish with 116 not out off 84 balls as USA overhauled a first innings total of 330 with seven balls to spare. 
 
Milind shared an unbroken 160-run partnership with Shubham Ranjane after the pair came together in the 31^stover with the score on 172 for 4. Ranjane added an unbeaten 57 off 49 balls during the stand with Milind as they helped USA eclipse their previous best chase which came at the same venue against Nepal in 2024 when USA overhauled Nepal’s total of 286 with a ball to spare behind a century from Shayan Jahangir. 
 
The result moves USA into a tie for first place with Scotland on the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two points table as both teams sit on 45 points. However, USA holds a tiebreaker over Scotland by virtue of having more wins as USA has secured 22 victories so far in the tournament while Scotland has just 19 to go along with seven points from rain-affected matches. 
 
However, USA still needs one more win to secure the tournament title. Both Netherlands and Oman are still mathematically capable of passing USA if USA were to lose their remaining three matches in Texas during the ongoing tri-series combined with either Netherlands or Oman going unbeaten in their remaining fixtures. Netherlands currently sit on 38 points but have four matches left to play while Oman have 31 points but have eight matches in hand. A win for USA in any of their remaining three matches against Namibia or UAE will clinch the title for them. 
 
Despite facing a steep target on paper, the match was played with atypical boundary dimensions at Grand Prairie Stadium as the strip used for the match was aligned to the westernmost part of the square, creating a significantly shorter boundary to access on one side of the ground. Combined with a flat batting track, USA cruised to the target from early on in their reply. 
 
It began with a brisk 27 from opener Smit Patel, who struck five boundaries in his brief stay before he was given out lbw playing back to a length ball from left-arm spinner Aayan Khan in the sixth over. Shehan Jayasuriya replaced him and lasted until the 10^th when he sliced Ibrar Ahmad’s pace to Aayan at short third for 9 to make it 60 for 2. 
 
Despite the pair of wickets lost in the Powerplay, USA still scored at better than a run a ball. Captain Monank Patel continued to keep the runs flowing after the pair of setbacks, making 55 off 60 balls before he was caught slicing a drive to backward point off legspinner Muhammad Shahdad to make it 134 for 3 in the 24^th. Sai Mukkamalla followed with a half-century of his own a short time later before he fell for 56 edging behind a drive against Ali Naseer to make it 172 for 4.
 
UAE could have made it two wickets in two overs, but a straightforward chance offered by Milind on 20 when he tried to pull Shahdad over the much deeper square boundary on the east side of the ground resulted in a catching opportunity for Khuzaima Tanveer. But he bungled the basic waist height chance 15 yards inside the rope to allow Milind to continue. The right-hander charged Aayan in the 36^th to drive his third six back over the bowler’s head to bring up 50 off 39 balls. A short time later, he blasted a flat drive off of Basil Hameed’s offspin toward Rahul Chopra at long-off, who tumbled to his right for a low diving effort and got two hands to the ball but could not hold on with Milind on 54. 
 
Ranjane made life even more miserable for UAE in the field in the following over when he crunched Ahmed for two sixes over the short leg side rope on the west side of the ground. Ranjane survived a sharp chance of his own when a sizzling drive off Aayan on 45 was dropped by the bowler with a deflection off his hand going into the non-striker’s stumps, though Milind had his bat grounded behind the line to avoid being runout in the 90s. One over later, a two punched to cover sweeper allowed Milind to raise his bat after reaching three figures off 76 balls. 
 
USA still needed 28 off the final three overs to win, but Aayan bowled a sloppy 48^th over in which Milind charged him for a fifth six hit straight down the ground before Aayan darted a quicker ball down the leg side a few balls later that went for five wides in what turned into a 16-run over. Ranjane started the 49^th by launching Naseer for his third six before Milind finished off the match by shoveling a full toss over mid-off for his seventh boundary. 
 
Legspinner Shahdad ended with UAE’s best figures on the day, taking 1 for 32 off five overs. Ahmed wound up being UAE’s most expensive bowler, conceding 1 for 82 off nine overs. Aayan’s figures wilted as the day wore on before he ended with 1 for 72 off 10. Naseer finished with 1 for 60 off 9.5 overs. 
 
The fact that USA had to chase a record total was in part due to their own sloppy fielding performance which allowed UAE to advance to a big score after USA won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat first. UAE also got a favorable decision from the umpires as well in the ninth over of play when a strong lbw shout from Jessy Singh against Tanish Suri was denied on 17. Smit then spilled a chance in the following over with Adeeb Usmani on 24 when the USA keeper could not hold onto a chance standing up to the stumps off Saurabh Netravalkar.
 
The opening stand for UAE was finally broken on 70 when Ranjane entered the attack and struck with his first ball of the day in the 13^th over as this time Smit held onto a thin edge standing up to Ranjane’s medium pace to dismiss Usmani for 36. USA missed two more opportunities in the 17^th over though when Ranjane induced a false drive from Suri that floated to Ehsan Adil at mid-off, who jumped unnecessarily for a head high chance and managed to fumble it with Suri on 45. In the same over, Monank missed a runout chance on Shahdad when the new batter tried a tip and run single into the covers on 8 only for Monank’s throw at the non-striker’s end to go just wide. 
 
Suri tapped a single to move to a 57-ball half-century in the 21^st before exploding in the 22^nd, smacking Jessy for a six and two fours. He reached 78 before middling a half-tracker from Adil straight to Milind at backward point in the 27^th to end an 80-run stand at 150 for 2. 
 
Shahdad had been on 33 off 53 balls at the 30-over drinks break, but a six off Ranjane in the first over after play resumed got Shahdad unstuck and he continued to score rapidly thereafter. An intentionally guided four between the keeper and short third brought up his half-century off 72 balls in the 35^th over. From that point forward, he had just three dots in his second 50 runs before bringing up a maiden ODI century in 101 balls with a straight driven six off Adil in the 47^th. 
 
However, USA had been making inroads at the other end to restrict UAE from making an even more imposing total. After a tidy opening spell that went unrewarded in the wickets column, Netravalkar came back in the 38^thover and had Harpreet Singh Bhatia caught by Milind at backward point for 24 to make it 215 for 3. In order to allow Netravalkar to switch ends, Jessy came back for the 40^th over and yorked Rahul Chopra for 8 to make it 229 for 4. 
 
After getting belted around in his initial six-over spell, left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh came back at the death and took four wickets in two overs to further dent UAE’s progress and keep them from aiming for 350. Harmeet bowled Sohaib Khan for 24 on a missed slog to start the 46^th before finishing the over getting Tanveer who backed away but fanned on a shot to be bowled for 1 at 278 for 6. Harmeet then claimed century-maker Shahdad for 114 in the 48^th as a slog was easily taken by Sanjay Krishnamurthi at deep midwicket before Naseer chased a wider delivery for a toe-edge behind to make it 296 for 8. The pendulum swung back UAE’s way briefly in the final over when Harmeet conceded two sixes to Basil Hameed in a 16-run over to end the innings. But it still wound up being not nearly enough for the UAE to post a total they could defend. 
 
Harmeet ended with 4 for 65 in his 10 overs while Ranjane took 1 for 54 off his 10. Despite a typically disciplined new-ball spell, Netravalkar wound up not completing his quota and finished with 1 for 38 off 8.1 overs, the extra ball a consequence of finishing up the 49^th over for Jessy, who had been removed from the bowling attack by the on-field umpires after too many no ball full tosses over waist height. Jessy ended with 1 for 72 off 7.5 overs as a result. Adil took 1 for 63 off nine overs while Milind ended as USA’s only wicketless bowler on the day, conceding 0 for 34 off five. 
 
USA has a rest day on Tuesday before returning to action on Wednesday against Namibia with a local start time of 10 am in Texas.