Milind Kumar and Sai Mukkamalla devastated UAE's bowling unit with a record-breaking 191-run fourth wicket partnership in a lopsided win to wrap up USA's first ever ODI tri-series sweep since joining ICC Cricket World Cup League Two in 2019. 

Photo credit: ICC TV/Willow TV

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
One match after Sai Mukkamalla and Milind Kumar broke USA’s fourth-wicket partnership record by adding an unbeaten 142 against Namibia, the pair raised the bar again with a 191-run fourth-wicket stand against UAE to take USA to their highest ODI total in a 136-run thumping of the UAE on Tuesday at United Cricket Club in Windhoek. Each player scored centuries as Mukkamalla passed three figures first to make 107 off 100 balls before Milind sprinted away in the death overs to finish with an unbeaten 155 off 110 balls as USA finished on 339 for 4 before bowling out the UAE for 203 in reply. 
 
Nosthush Kenjige took 3 for 36 in ten overs, and his second wicket in the sequence made him just the second bowler to take 100 career wickets in limited overs cricket for USA. Saurabh Netravalkar is the only other to do so, and the former USA captain took 3 for 32 in seven overs by wiping out the top order with the new ball before Kenjige came on later to clean up the tail on a historic day where USA achieved another landmark by completing their first ever 4-0 tri-series sweep since they joined the Cricket World Cup League Two ODI competition in 2019. 
 
USA lost the toss after picking an unchanged XI from their win over Namibia two days earlier. It was the first toss USA lost on tour, but before long they were continuing their winning ways with the bat thanks to Milind and Mukkamalla. USA did suffer two losses in the Powerplay as Andries Gous had his first failure in an ODI for USA, top-edging a pull to mid-on off Junaid Siddique in the fifth over to fall for 5, before captain Monank Patel fell for the same score when a square drive was caught at backward point off the bowling of Ali Naseer to make it 46 for 2 in 10. Smit Patel looked solid in making 48 before he was on the receiving end of a shocking lbw decision as an arm ball from left-arm spinner Aayan Afzal Khan struck him on the pads on the front foot and the appeal was upheld despite replays appearing to show that the ball was sliding well past leg stump. 
 
At 74 for 3 in the 17^th over, Milind joined Mukkamalla and the former survived a very close lbw shout on 2 in the following over when going onto the back foot to left-arm spinner Rahul Bhatia. Mukkamalla also had a close shave on 25 in the 23^rd over when a chip toward long-off against Basil Hameed’s offspin floated toward Asif Khan on the boundary, who made no effort to come forward for a catching attempt as Hameed demonstrated his frustration immediately afterward when the ball landed three yards in front of Asif for a single. 
 
But starting in the 24^th over, the pair began to assert themselves more confidently as Milind struck Bhatia out of the attack with two boundaries during a 12-run over. After Milind caught up to Mukkamalla in the 27^th, the junior partner took the lead once again with a six pulled over the leg side off Naseer in the 28^th. 
 
Milind survived a genuine missed chance in the 30^th on 38 when a fierce pull short off a half-tracker sent down by Aayan was spilled by Bhatia diving to his right at short midwicket in the ring. In the following over, Mukkamalla struck a hat-trick of fours off UAE medium pace debutant Omid Shafi Rahman between extra cover and backward point, the middle one in the sequence bringing up a 58-ball half-century. Mukkamalla hit back-to-back fours again in the 32^nd through extra cover off Aayan to bring up the century stand in the 32^ndbefore another four came in the 33^rd off Naseer courtesy of a sloppy misfield on the point boundary. 
 
Milind brought up his fifty off 56 balls with a four cut through backward point off Hameed in the 34^th over before Mukkamalla hit another pair of fours off Hameed in the 36^th. Milind charged Bhatia to launch him for back-to-back sixes over long-off in the 39^th to bring up the 150-run partnership and break the USA fourth-wicket record the two had set less than 48 hours earlier. 
 
Mukkamalla then reached his second ODI ton off 94 balls in the 43^rd over with a cut that was misfielded over the point boundary. He struck a much cleaner boundary off his next ball, pulling Rahman to the leg side rope. Mukkamalla finally fell in the following over as a tossed up delivery wide outside off stump resulted in a false drive and a loopy catch to Siddique on the ring at short third man, leaving the pair nine runs short of what would have been the fifth double-century stand in USA history. 
 
Shayan Jahangir joined Milind and let him have as much of the struck as he wanted across the final six overs. Milind moved to 98 with a four off Siddique in the 45^th before tapping a single in the 46^th to get to a maiden ODI century off 92 balls. Milind wound up facing 18 of the 24 balls in the final four overs, completely devastating UAE’s death bowlers by scoring 55 of USA’s final 61 runs in the sequence. Siddique was punished for two fours and a six in the 47^th before the same happened to Naseer in the 48^th as well as Rahman in the 49^th. A single in the 50^th meant Milind reached 150 just 18 balls after his 100 had been brought up before he ended the innings with a four late cut over short third man. Jahangir ended unbeaten on 12 off 14 balls in an unbeaten 74-run fifth-wicket stand to cap the innings. 
 
For UAE, Aayan returned commendable figures of 2 for 49 in 10 while every other UAE bowler went for at least six an over. Naseer finished with 1 for 57 in nine while Siddique claimed 1 for 69 in 10. Rahman’s debut was memorable for the wrong reasons as he returned figures of 0 for 73 off eight overs to be UAE’s most expensive bowler on the day. A luckless Hameed ended with 0 for 51 in seven while Bhatia was also wicketless going for 39 runs in his six overs of left-arm spin. 
 
Netravalkar was masterful with the new ball as all three of his wickets were caught behind on edges off a good length. Aryansh Sharma fell for 11 on the first ball of the fifth over before UAE captain Muhammad Waseem poked away from his body on the last ball of the over to go for 12. Vishnu Sukumaran struggled with Netravalkar’s angle, pushing well wide of off stump to feather an edge for 7 in the seventh making it 33 for 3. 
 
Rahul Chopra arrived at No. 5 and teamed with Asif for a 103-run stand, seizing on USA’s change bowlers after Netravalkar’s new-ball spell ended. Jessy Singh struggled, giving away two boundaries in his first over to Asif before bowling both sides of the wicket to Bhatia, who hit him for a trio of fours in the 13^th. Yasir Mohammad fared little better after replacing Jessy in the 15^th, giving away a boundary to each man in his first over before both men whacked him for six in the 17^th as UAE reached drinks in 17 overs at a promising 114 for 3. 
 
Chopra reached his fifty first, off of 37 balls, by driving Jessy through the covers for four after the medium pacer replaced Mohammad in the 19^th. Asif then made his half-century off 44 balls in the 21^st over with another boundary off Jessy as the pair brought up a century stand and began to make USA’s total look very chaseable. 
 
But UAE’s hopes of hauling down USA’s total were snuffed out across the next two overs as both set men fell. Milind’s fine day continued when he struck in his first over of offspin, nailing Chopra’s pads with a carrom ball in front of middle stump to remove him lbw for 52. Jessy claimed Asif for 51 in the 23^rd to make it 138 for 5 after a pull shot carried flat to sub fielder Utkarsh Srivastava 15 yards inside the rope at deep square leg after the teenager came on to replace Mukkamalla who left the field in the 19^th over suffering from calf cramps. 
 
Shadley van Schalkwyk struck in the 25^th over when Naseer fell for a third-ball duck chipping a soft catch off a length ball to Monank at short midwicket. At 150 for 6, UAE’s run rate was fine but Hameed was left with only the tail to bat. Hameed took the fight to USA’s bowlers, hitting four sixes. 
 
But after reaching 198 for 6 in the 34^th, UAE’s tailenders finally crumbled in the face of Kenjige’s persistence as they lost their last four wickets for five runs. Aayan fell for 10, slicing a length ball to Jessy at short third, who pulled off a superb catch diving forward. Kenjige struck twice more in his final over in the 36^th. Bhatia fell first for 3, overstretching after being beaten on a forward prod to be given out stumped. Siddique went for a golden duck next ball pushing a full ball back for a gentle return catch to Kenjige’s left at chest height. Rahman blocked out Kenjige’s hat-trick ball before going on the second ball of the 37^th to end the innings as a wild slash to a wide ball from Jessy resulted in an edge behind for Smit’s fifth dismissal of the day behind the stumps. It also meant that Hameed was left stranded on 50 not out off 43 balls after entering at No. 6. 
 
Aside from Kenjige and Netravalkar’s twin three-wicket hauls, Jessy Singh ended with 2 for 51 in 7.2 overs. Van Schalkwyk took 1 for 42 in six overs while Milind ended with 1 for 17 in four. Mohammad was yanked out of the attack after two expensive overs that gave away 23 runs and wasn’t used further on the day. 
 
USA now has five days off before playing their first T20I of the Namibia tri-series against UAE on Monday September 30 with a 12:30 pm local time scheduled start. UAE and Namibia will play the final ODI of the six-match tri-series on Thursday in Windhoek.