India A vs USA T20 World Cup Warm Up Match: India A beat USA by 38 runs

USA have pretty much let go of all care in the world in the last few overs and they have done pretty well here as a result. Mohammad Mosin has smashed 21 runs in nine balls whilem Harmeet Singh fell on 25 off nine balls last ball of the 18th over to Ashok Sharma. Ravi Bishnoi added to his tally by picking Jasdeep Singh last ball of the 19th over.

In case you are wondering, USA's required run rate in this last over is a cool 45.00

How about it! Tilak Varma had been bowling a lot while warming up for this warm-up match. He bowls the 11th over and dismisses the set batter Gous!

"Tilak Varma had a long bowl during the warm-ups and takes a wicket off the first ball that he bowls. With uncertainty still hanging over Washington Sundar's availability, Tilak giving a few overs could augur well for the side," says Shankar Narayan.

Mayank Yadav hasn't exactly found his feet here. Gous and Kumar find no issues navigating him in the last over of the powerplay. He has figures of 0/26 thus far.

Andries Gous takes strike for USA with Monank Patel at the other end. Khaleel Ahmed bowled the first over, ended up copping a four off the first ball and two more off the last two deliveries.

Badoni showing just what he is made of here. He gets to a half-century with his fifth four of the innings, coupled with four sixes. He is striking at over 250 at the moment.

Edged and that's that for Tilak. A good outing for him, he hit three fours and two sixes over the course of his innings, strike rate of 158.33 despite getting off to a relatively slow start. Now here comes Ayush Badoni, captain of this India A team.

Jagadeesan starts with a six off Ali Khan. Two singles after that and then a cheeky ramp from Jagadeesan for a bouncer fourth ball, it goes over the wicketkeeper for a four. Two runs off the last ball and Jagadeesan is on 70 off 36, Tilak on 29 off 17.

Jagadeesan with three fours and a six in that eighth over and he has raced to 50 off 27 balls. Well, this India A side are pretty much following the template that the senior side has adopted.

India A 89/1 in 8 overs

A good finish to the powerplay by the USA. Jasdeep Singh bowled the last over and Jagadeesan kept swinging at everything. He ended up bowling the fourth ball wide outside off in an effort to keep it away from Jagadeesan's reach but the batter finally managed to get a boundary on the off side last ball. Tilak tried to free his arms fifth ball but just slashed it off side.

Spinner Milind Kumar comes in for the third over and gets taken on a tour around the DY Patil Stadium. Arya tonks the first ball over the off side for a six, the second is sent away for four and then a single. Jagadeesan then punishes a half-tracker by cutting it through the off side for four, the next ball is sent to the boundary as well for another four.

Jagadeesan on 14 off nine, Arya on 23 off nine.

Priyansh Arya started the match by picking up the first delivery and sending it over mid-wicket and to the boundary for a four. Just two more singles after that in that over though.

Ali Khan to bowl the second over.

India A (Batting XI, Fielding XI): N Jagadeesan(w), Priyansh Arya, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Ayush Badoni(c), Riyan Parag, Urvil Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Khaleel Ahmed, Mayank Yadav, Ashok Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Gurjapneet Singh, Manav Suthar

United States of America (Batting XI, Fielding XI): Andries Gous, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Monank Patel(w/c), Shehan Jayasuriya, Shubham Ranjane, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shayan Jahangir, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Ali Khan, Saurabh Netravalkar, Milind Kumar, Mohammad Mohsin, Nosthush Kenjige, Jasdeep Singh

It is pretty safe to assume that Tilak Varma will be in the Indian eleven for the T20 World Cup regardless of how he fares in the two warm-up matches if he stays fit. The question then arises as to who makes way for him. Sanju Samson was seemingly India's first choice opener and wicketkeeper before the start of the series against New Zealand, when they had announced the squad for the T20 World Cup. However, this was followed by an abysmal run of form in the New Zealand series and that was coupled with some astonishing displays from Ishan Kishan, who was playing in Tilak's place. Will it be Samson or Kishan who makes way for Tilak?

Tilak Varma has established himself as an important player in the India T20I setup with the Men in Blue sweating over his fitness ahead of the T20 World Cup in February. Rohit Sharma, who was Tilak’s captain in the Mumbai Indians as well as the national team, said that when he met Varma in the MI set up, he could sense there was something different about him. Read more.

There are two other warm-up matches happening today. Afghanistan are facing Scotland at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. That match started at 3pm. Later, Canada face newcomers Italy in Chennai at 7pm.

India face the United States at the Wankhede Stadium in their opening match of the tournament on February 7 at the Wankhede Stadium. This will be followed by a game against Namibia on February 12 in Delhi, after which is supposed to be the match against Pakistan in Colombo on February 15, Sri Lanka. Their last match of the tournament will be against the Netherlands on February 26.

These warm-up matches are more for the visiting sides to acclimatise to the conditions they will be facing in the T20 World Cup and so that is the reason why you see no one in the Indian team today who are in the tournament squad. Except Tilak Varma, of course, and one can expect to see a lot of him today as the management will want to make sure that he goes through the motions properly before getting back to the rigours of international cricket.