After piling on the runs overseas, 20-year-old Sai Mukkamalla scored his first ODI half-century on American soil which provided a key base for USA to build off in an eventual win over Nepal. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Grand Prairie, Texas (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Sai Mukkamalla scored his first ODI half-century on home soil in national team colors, top-scoring with 75 off 87 balls in USA’s total of 281 for 8 before Saurabh Netravalkar capped off his outstanding year by earning Player of the Match honors for his haul of 4 for 47 to help snuff out Nepal’s innings for 244 in reply as USA wrapped up a 37-run win to close out their international slate for 2024 at Grand Prairie Stadium on Saturday. 
 
Things looked murky for USA both literally and figuratively after losing the toss and being sent in to bat by Nepal. The match began under heavily overcast morning conditions with the stadium floodlights turned on for the start of play at 10:30 am. Considering that USA was wiped out in bowler friendly conditions by Scotland in a 10-wicket loss to start the ODI tri-series, it made their response all the more impressive. 
 
Nepal’s quest to rip through USA’s top order suffered a major blow in the third over of play when new-ball fast bowler Karan KC went down with a leg injury just four balls into his second over and never returned to the field. But the rest of Nepal’s seam options failed to challenge USA outside off stump in the conditions as the home side calmly rode out the new ball. The only blip for USA in the Powerplay came when Shayan Jahangir fell for 10, prodding a return catch back to Gulshan Jha’s first ball after the 18-year-old had entered the attack in the seventh over. But Jha’s second over was expensive as Aaron Jones, back into the USA squad and straight into the XI after replacing the withdrawn Andries Gous, hit Jha for three fours to give momentum back to USA. 
 
USA captain Monank Patel could have been out for 13 in the 10^th over to Sompal Kami, but Nepal captain Rohit Paudel misjudged a lofted drive toward his position at mid-on as he charged in from the ring only for the flat punch to clear his leaping effort after he began to backpedal late. Sandeep Lamichhane replaced Kami for the 12^th and struck off his final ball of the over when Jones pulled a half-tracker to sub fielder Rijan Dhakal at deep midwicket for 26 to make it 64 for 2. 
 
From there, Monank and Mukkamalla built an impressive 88-run partnership for the third wicket. Monank brought up a half-century off 61 balls by attacking Kushal Bhurtel in the 22^nd over for four and a driven six before tapping a single to get to the landmark. The partnership ended when the USA captain tried to cart Lamichhane for six but only managed to pick out Jha at wide long-off for 66 to make it 152 for 3 in the 31^st. Mukkamalla brought up a 68-ball half-century in the 36^th over by pulling Aarif Sheikh’s medium pace through midwicket for his third boundary to go along with one six at that stage. Bhurtel then struck again in the following over to remove Sanajy Krishnamurthi, who could not convert a good start when driving low to Dipendra Singh Airee at short extra cover for 15 to make it 182 for 4. 
 
Mukkamalla looked to have three-figures in his crosshairs after reaching 75 with nine overs to go, but fell trying to up the tempo when driving Jha to Bhurtel at long-off in the 42^nd to make it 216 for 5. Utkarsh Srivastava followed up his debut half-century by making 8 before he drove Kami to Anil Sah at long-on in the 45th to make it 237 for 6. 
 
Nepal had a chance to keep USA’s total down in the final overs, but sloppy fielding cost them dearly as Harmeet Singh was dropped by Sah at long-off after skying a drive against Kami. It happened to start the 49^thover when the score was 259 for 6 and Harmeet was on 39. Shadley van Schalkwyk fell to end the over, pulling Kami to Airee at deep midwicket for 7. But Harmeet caused significant damage in the final over by hitting Jha over long-off for six, then scooping him over fine leg for four to bring up a 40-ball half-century and then clubbed another six two balls later in a 16-run sequence before falling for 59 on the final ball of the innings, caught on the boundary by Sah. The extra 20 runs off the bat of Harmeet in the two overs following his dropped chance proved crucial in the final margin. 
 
Jha finished with 3 for 87 in 10 overs, though he was expensive at the death. Kami finished with 2 for 50 while Lamichhane took 2 for 48 in 10 overs. Bhurtel took 1 for 43 in six overs of leg spin. Kushal Malla conceded just 14 off six overs of left-arm spin including a maiden, but was not used again after being taken off following the 23^rd over despite the fact that USA had right-handers at the crease until the 37^th over. Airee was only used for one over that gave away five runs in the 29^th over, and was not brought back for his offspin when USA’s left-handers came to the crease. 
 
Nepal’s batting reply was overly conservative from the start and from the time that Aasif Sheikh fell in the second over to Jessy Singh for 6, bowled by a fuller delivery, they remained behind on the DLS par score for the remainder of the chase. Netravalkar contributed to that significantly with a pressure-packed new ball spell in which he conceded just three runs off his first three overs. The left-armer was hit out of the attack in the ninth over when Sah attacked him for a rare spurt of batting aggression from the visitors in which he struck two fours and a six during a 15-run Nepal over to take the score to 39 for 1. But it would not be until the 34^th over that Nepal would once again cross double-digits in a six-ball sequence.
 
Despite a half-century partnership between Sah and Bhurtel for the second-wicket, it came at a snail’s pace and finally ended when Bhurtel was bowled for 29 on a failed sweep against Harmeet in the 19^th over to make it 79 for 2. The wicket came during a 10-over stretch where Nepal failed to score a boundary as the required run rate continued to climb. Malla broke the sequence with a four off Harmeet in the 25^th and Sah brought up a 77-ball half-century in the following over with a single off Jessy Singh. But pressure from the rising target equation finally resulted in the wicket of Sah in the 27^th as a slog sweep against Nosthush Kenjige found Jessy at deep midwicket for 52 to make it 106 for 3. 
 
Another major blow was struck by Kenjige in the 31^st when Paudel, who had top-scored in Nepal’s previous encounter with USA, was trapped lbw for 1 after missing a sweep to make it 110 for 4. Kenjige should have had a third in his next over but dropped a return chance offered by Malla on 22 at chest height. However, Netravalkar hastened Nepal’s middle-order slide upon replacing Kenjige after drinks in the 35^th, getting Aarif Sheikh for 21 slicing to Kenjige at backward point. Malla fell in the next over to van Schalkwyk for 33, slapping a shot in the air to Krishnamurthi at cover sweeper to make it 146 for 6. 
 
Netravalkar took his second in the 40^th, bowling Jha for 12 to make it 162 for 7. He should have had Kami two balls later without scoring but Kenjige had his second fumble of the day, dropping a straightforward chance at backward point. Kenjige compounded the previous error in the following over with a missed runout chance when Kami was on 7. It meant that Kami and Airee combined for a 73-run stand to keep Nepal’s faint hopes of a late rally alive. 
 
Kami drove van Schalkwyk for six in the 47^th over to move to 46 off 26 balls and reduce the target to 47 off of 20 balls. But trying to repeat the shot on the following delivery, Kami skied van Schalkwyk to long-off where Mukkamalla held on to make it 235 for 8. Netravalkar then closed the door on Nepal in his final two overs, first getting Lamichhane to slice to Harmeet at backward point in the 48^th for 2 to make it 238 for 9. 
 
The injured Karan came out to bat with Airee, but was unable to run which meant that Nepal could only score boundaries the rest of the way. With Nepal now needing 40 off the final two overs to win, a slightly bizarre maiden was recorded in the 49^th by van Schalkwyk in which Airee middled every ball but picked out a boundary rider each time, meaning no runs were taken with Karan incapacitated. Karan then took a walked single off the second ball of the final over to put Airee back on strike before Netravalkar took the game-ending wicket, running back to claim a skied chance behind the umpire. 
 
Aside from Netravalkar’s Player of the Match figures, Kenjige returned 2 for 33 in eight overs. Van Schalkwyk claimed 2 for 52 in nine. Jessy took 1 for 46 in nine overs while Harmeet took 1 for 46 in 10. 
 
USA’s next international assignment for the men’s team is not expected to be until early 2025 when they are slated to tour Oman for their next tri-series in Cricket World Cup League Two.