20-year-old New Jersey native Sai Mukkamalla became just the second USA player to score a T20I century as the chasing maestro scored 100 not out off 48 balls to steer USA past Oman's 190 with an over to spare. 

File photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Sai Mukkamalla’s remarkable run of form in T20I cricket continued on Thursday at Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman as the 20-year old reeled off an unbeaten 100 off 48 balls to help USA to their second-highest successful chase in T20Is to clinch a seven-wicket win over Oman. Mukkamalla’s boundary off the final ball of the 19^th over closed the curtains on USA’s chase of Oman’s first innings total of 190. Their opening night triumph over Canada to kick off the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup when Aaron Jones’ unforgettable 94* off 40 balls to chase down a first innings total of 194 is the only total higher that USA has successfully chased in T20Is. 
 
Today’s winning effort was made possible by the same man who is also responsible for scoring an unbeaten century in what was then USA’s highest successful ODI chase, going past a target of 280 against the UAE at Namibia in March 2023, before he helped reset the mark with 79 not out against Namibia in September 2024 when USA hauled down 286 with five overs to spare. In doing so, he joined Steven Taylor (vs Jersey in Zimbabwe at the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier) as the only USA players to score a T20I century. Monank Patel and Jaskaran Malhotra also scored centuries for USA in a T20 match against Belize at Morrisville, North Carolina in September 2018 at an ICC T20 World Cup subregional qualifier which did not have T20I status. 
 
Mukkamalla came to the crease in this contest in the third over after Steven Taylor perished for 6, bowled by Sufyan Mehmood’s medium pace after a failed flick across the line made it 16 for 1. But Mukkamalla struck his first ball over extra cover for four off Mehmood, then pumped him for six over mid-on off back-to-back balls in the fifth over and never looked back. 
 
USA experienced another brief hiccup in the eighth over when Andries Gous fell for 28, pulling left-arm spinner Aamir Kaleem flat to long-on to make it 66 for 2 to end a half-century stand with Mukkamala. But the 20-year-old soon put USA back in command during the 10^th over by launching legspinner Samay Shrivastava over extra cover for an elegant six. One over later, he pounced on medium pacer Mohammad Nadeem going too full and drove him over mid-off for his fourth six to move to 49 before a single took him to a half-century off 25 balls. 
 
A trademark front foot pull off a length delivery from Hassnain Shah’s medium pace landed 20 yards over the mid-on rope for six in the 13^th. USA’s last blemish occurred in the 15^th when captain Monank Patel drove a full ball from Nadeem to long-off to fall for 27, ending a 68-run stand with Mukkamalla to make it 134 for 3 in the 15^th. At that stage, USA needed 60 off of 35 balls to win but the match was done and dusted an over early thanks to a 60-run unbroken stand between Mukkamalla and Jones for the fourth wicket. 
 
In the same over that Monank fell, Nadeem went on to concede 22 runs. Mukkamalla charged him and launched a full delivery back over the bowler’s head that barely cleared the man at the long-off rope to land for his sixth six. A full toss no ball over waist height was flicked to short fine leg for a dot off the next delivery, but an overthrow put Jones on strike for the free hit. Jones laced a full delivery for six over extra cover before charging Nadeem to pump him back over his head into the broadcast tower for back-to-back sixes. 
 
Mukkamalla began the 16^th over slicing a thick edge wide of the keeper off Aamir Kaleem’s left-arm spin for four. Jones then ended the over by sweeping Kaleem for four behind square before charging the spinner and splitting mid-on and mid-off with another lofted drive for four to take the equation under a run a ball required for USA. Mukkamalla ended the 17^th with another front foot pull off Mehmood over mid-on for his seventh six to move into the 90s. 
 
A sequence of twos and ones during the 18^th and 19^th took Mukkamalla to 96 and put Jones on strike with USA needing two to win off of 10 deliveries. After two failed attempts to flick a single, Jones finally delivered one through midwicket to level the scores and put Mukkamalla back on strike with one ball to go in the 19^thand one last chance to get a century since a dot would have put Jones back on strike to start the 20th. Mukkamalla charged Mehmood and sliced a length delivery of third man up in the ring as the ball’s backspin took it across the rope for Mukkamalla’s century and the winning runs. 
 
Mukkamalla needed just 23 more balls to score his second 50 runs during the century to end on 100 not out off 48 balls. Jones ended unbeaten on 25 off 14 balls. 
 
Kaleem finished with the best figures on the day for Oman, ending with 1 for 30 in three. Mehmood took 1 for 44 in four while Nadeem finished with 1 for 43 in four. Shakeel Ahmed, who was dominant during the ODI leg of the tour, went wicketless but was Oman’s most economical bowler returning 0 for 26 in four overs. Shah was Oman’s least economical, conceding 0 for 27 off two overs. 
 
Kaleem got Oman off to a hot start after the hosts were sent in to bat first by USA at the toss. He teamed with captain Jatinder Singh for a 77-run opening partnership which was broken when Harmeet Singh won an lbw decision after Jatinder swung over the top of a reverse sweep on a low full toss to go for 28. Kaleem tapped a single to bring up a 29-ball half-century in the following over, but ran out of steam quite badly in the second half of the innings, adding just 22 runs off his final 21 balls at the crease while his partners farmed the majority of the strike. 
 
Nosthush Kenjige struck next for USA three balls after the 10-over drinks break when Hammad Mirza fell for 20 when he charged and miscued a drive towards long-off where Milind Kumar sprinted in off the rope for an excellent tumbling catch to make it 104 for 3. In his first match back for USA since the August tour of the Netherlands, Taylor struck in the 14^th over getting Mujibur Ali lbw for 12 after he played back to a quicker ball that skidded under his attempted pull to make it 120 for 3. 
 
Harmeet struck twice more in the 19^th to dent Oman’s chances of a strong finish on a good batting wicket. Vinayak Shukla fell for 36 off 22 balls when his attempted slog sweep off Harmeet resulted in a top-edge swirling over vacant midwicket in the ring where Harmeet ran to take an over the shoulder catch. Shah then slog swept his first ball to Taylor at deep square leg to put Harmeet on a hat-trick at 169 for 5. Juanoy Drysdale leaked 19 runs off the final over, starting with Kaleem’s 11^th and final boundary before Wasim Ali struck him for six and four later in the over. Still it wasn’t nearly enough for Oman to be able to defend. 
 
Harmeet ended with figures of 3 for 37 in four overs to lead USA in the field. Kenjige was USA’s most economical bowler, following up his five-wicket haul from Tuesday’s ODI by taking figures of 1 for 19 in four overs. Taylor claimed 1 for 25 in three overs while Milind Kumar conceded 0 for 21 in two overs of offspin to round out USA’s slow bowling unit on the day. The new-ball pace duo of Ali Khan and Drysdale were USA’s most expensive bowlers on the day, both conceding at more than 10 per over. Drysdale gave up 0 for 41 off three overs while Khan allowed 0 for 42 off four. 
 
Both sides return to action on Friday afternoon in Oman for the second T20I in the series before the third and final match which is scheduled for Sunday.