Sai Mukkamalla returned with a vengeance to the USA lineup and produced a highlight-reel knock with four sixes in his 79 off 51 balls to help USA to their first win at the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, and first ever T20I win over Netherlands. 

Photo credit: ICC via Getty

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
After being subbed out of the lineup for USA’s showdown against Pakistan, 21-year-old Sai Mukkamalla returned with a vengeance against Netherlands on Friday night in Chennai, blasting his way to 79 off 51 balls to set up an imposing first-innings total before left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh took advantage of a deterioration in pitch conditions to wipe out the Dutch chase with 4 for 21 as USA recorded their first every win over the Dutch in T20Is, eventually coming out on top by 93 runs at Chepauk. The margin of victory kept USA’s slim chances of advancing into the Super Eights alive, though they’ll need plenty of other results to fall their way for the remainder of Group A play at the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. 
 
Through a combination of form and illness in the squad, USA made three changes to their lineup ahead of the toss. Mukkamalla and Ali Khan returned to the lineup after missing USA’s loss to Pakistan while Nosthush Kenjige came in for his first match of the tournament. Ehsan Adil and Saurabh Netravalkar both sat out while Andries Gous missed the match due to a stomach bug. 
 
The shakeup proved to be a wakeup call that USA had been needing after a disappointing loss to Pakistan as they reached 53 for 1 at the end of the Powerplay after losing the toss and being sent in to bat first. Shayan Jahangir got the USA innings rolling by swatting Aryan Dutt’s offspin over the leg side for six in a 12-run opening over. Jahangir cleared the ropes again off Logan van Beek’s pace in the second over and looked to be on his way to another productive innings before he was bowled by a full delivery from Kyle Klein in the third over for 20 to make it 27 for 1. 
 
Mukkamalla entered and joined captain Monank Patel for a 55-run stand that capitalized on tentativeness in the field from the Dutch. Monank was on 15 in the fifth over when a slash against Klein sailed toward deep third for a possible chance, but Dutt stayed back on the rope rather than come in to attempt a diving effort as the ball landed harmlessly in front of Dutt for a single. Then in the ninth, Mukkamalla was on 19 when he skied a pull off Bas de Leede that could have been taken but once again no dive was put in by van Beek charging in off the rope at midwicket as the ball landed at his feet for two runs. 
 
The partnership ended at the end of the over when Monank was fooled by a knuckleball slower ball bouncer by de Leede and miscued a tame uppercut easily taken by wicketkeeper captain Scott Edwards for 36 to make it 82 for 2. Sanjay Krishnamurthi was promoted to No. 4 but couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity, bowled second ball for 1 to left-arm pacer Fred Klaassen after prodding forward to a slower ball cutter that split the bat-pad gap to make it 105 for 3.
 
The decision to not put in a dive on Mukkamalla’s earlier skied chance wound up proving to be extremely costly for the Dutch. Rather than possibly being out for 19, he continued to pummel the Dutch bowling attack, forging a 54-run partnership for the fourth wicket with his Texas Super Kings franchise teammate Shubham Ranjane. Having earlier gone inside out over cover for a six off Klaassen in the sixth over, Mukkamalla repeated the same shot to Klein in the 12^th to bring up a 30-ball half-century. He then cleared the leg side against left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe for six in the 14^th as part of a 14-run over before hitting a fourth six off Klaassen in the 15^th. Mukkamalla looked on course for a century but finally fell in the 17^th, caught at deep square leg trying to hook de Leede, to make it 159 for 4 with 19 balls to go. 
 
Ranjane then took over from Mukkamalla to continue pushing USA toward an insurmountable totally, scoring all but 3 runs in a 26-run stand with Milind Kumar. Once each against Klein and de Leede, Ranjane shuffled across his stumps to get inside the line of a leg side delivery to flick over the fine leg rope for six. The stand ended when Milind fell in near identical fashion to Monank, gloving a knuckleball slower bouncer from de Leede to Edwards in the 19^th. Harmeet came in at No. 7 and was out second ball to van Beek in the 20^th, skying a slower ball to van der Merwe at long-on to make it 188 for 6. Mohammad Mohsin entered at No. 8 and tapped a full toss for a single to bring the well-set Ranjane back on strike for the final three balls of the innings on 42 off 21 balls. Ranjane managed to stroke three consecutive twos, winding up just short of another half-century but his unbeaten 48 took USA to 196 for 6 and made them clear favorites at the innings break. 
 
De Leede ended with 3 for 37 off his four overs. Van Beek returned 1 for 28 off four while Klaassen and Klein claimed 1 for 32 and 1 for 35 respectively. The spin duo of Dutt and van der Merwe went wicketless for Netherlands, ending with 0 for 24 off two overs and 0 for 36 off three overs respectively. 
 
USA struck with the seventh ball of the chase, and Kenjige’s first ball of the tournament in the second over as the left-arm spinner had a length delivery skid very low to knock back the off stump of Michael Levitt for 3. From then on it was clear that USA’s decision to play an extra spinner was justified as Harmeet soon made his first breakthrough, getting Max O’Dowd for 13 off the final ball of the fifth over, toeing a pull to Milind at mid-on to make it 41 for 2. 
 
Tournament leading wicket-taker Shadley van Schalkwyk entered the fray in the sixth over and struck with his fourth ball, getting Colin Ackermann for a golden duck loosely flicking a half-volley straight to Ranjane at short midwicket to make it 45 for 3. However, a much bigger blow was struck by Harmeet in the seventh over when de Leede slapped a length ball straight to Monank at cover for 23 to make it 53 for 4. That would be the Netherlands top scorer for the day as they quickly spiraled further towards defeat. 
 
Zach Lion-Cachet fell for 6 in the eighth over, dragging on a length delivery from legspinner Mohammad Mohsin to make it 66 for 5. Netherlands captain Scott Edwards fell on the final ball of the 10^th over for 20 as Harmeet followed up a series of flighted, sharp-turning deliveries with a quicker ball that skidded on past an attempted pull shot and crashed into the stumps to make it 75 for 6 at the halfway stage of the chase. 
 
Van der Merwe was Harmeet’s fourth and final victim in the 12^th over for 10, playing a reverse sweep too early and struck on the pads to be given lbw to make it 84 for 7. Van Beek was bowled for 2 by Mohsin in the following over after missing a sweep to make it 86 for 8. 
 
Van Schalkwyk came back in the 14^th to take the final two wickets to extend his tournament lead to 11 in three matches. First he had Dutt bowled by a legcutter for 9 before removing Klaassen in the 16^th for 3 with a skied drive to mid-off taken by Milind as Netherlands were bowled out for 103 in 15.5 overs. 
 
Harmeet received the Player of the Match award for his haul while van Schalkwyk ended with 3 for 21 off 2.5 overs. Mohsin continued his superb tournament with the ball to end with 2 for 19 off three overs while Kenjige ended with 1 for 20 off three overs. Khan did not bowl again after finishing with 0 for 18 off two overs in the Powerplay. Ranjane sent down a lone over that conceded four runs. 
 
USA has an off day on Saturday before returning to action on Sunday against Namibia, who remain winless after two matches. USA need a win to remain in contention for a spot in the Super Eights and would also need the losing side in the India v Pakistan match later on Sunday to then go on and lose their remaining fixture to bring the net run rate tiebreaker into play. India’s last match is against the Netherlands while Namibia’s final fixture is against Pakistan.