India vice-captain Axar Patel shared his thoughts about the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai after the Men in Blue’s close call against the USA in their T20 World Cup 2026 opener on Saturday, February 7.
India was reduced to 77/6 after the USA captain Monank Patel won the toss and chose to bowl first. But Suryakumar Yadav played one of the best knocks in T20 World Cup history, scoring 84* with 10 fours and 4 sixes to push India’s score to a competitive 161/9 in 20 overs.
Axar Patel stated that the team was surprised by the pitch conditions against the USA, as the surface is usually good for batting.
“The planning is according to the match situation. Generally, the wicket in Mumbai is flat, and we took about three overs to determine what would be a good score. The dressing room atmosphere was like that... the kind of confidence with which we are coming in, we knew even if one batter gets going, we would reach around 140-150. The wicket was also behaving (differently). We were surprised because we thought that this is a flat wicket, which generally in Mumbai it is,” Axar Patel told reporters, as quoted by Times of India.
Axar stated that there was some strain in the dressing room following the early batting collapse, particularly given that it occurred in the tournament's first match.
“Obviously, you feel that because in the last (so many) tournaments there has been such an early collapse. Cricket is like this, but then it’s good that it happened in the first match. It is important to understand the nature of the wicket and the type of cricket we have been playing; we were not able to execute the shots. If it happens again, we will have the experience to take it to 160-170.
You have to change your style looking at the wicket, but we were playing attacking cricket only, and not just playing defensively or taking singles or doubles. You have to hit the way the wicket is behaving,” Axar said.
“We (Suryakumar and I) talked about taking it till the end because we had no batter left. We wanted to stick around for the next 2-3 overs and then accelerate. The player that he is, you know what happens when he is in form. After last year, the form he showed in the New Zealand series, and is continuing to show, and he knows what his game is, which he showed in a big match today,” Axar signed off.
Axar Patel shined with the ball, taking two wickets, while Arshdeep Singh also picked two scalps. But the pick of the Indian bowlers was Mohammed Siraj, who took three wickets as the USA was restricted to 132/8 in 20 overs. India started their T20 World Cup 2026 with a 29-run win over the USA.
