IND vs USA: Why is Gujarat-born Monank Patel not leading United States of America against India?

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IND vs USA: Monank Patel missed the opportunity to captain USA against his country of birth USA at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Wednesday, June 12.

Gujarat-born Monank Patel, who played junior cricket with Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah, would have wished to stand with India captain Rohit Sharma at toss but had to miss out on the first-ever match between the two sides due to a niggle injury.

USA stand-in captain Aaron Jones confirmed the news to Ravi Shastri at the toss. Jones also named opener Shayan Jahangir as the replacement of Monank Patel, who led India to wins against Canada and Pakistan.

The sensational win against Pakistan has put USA on the cusp of qualifying for the Super 8 round of T20 World cup 2024. The idea behind benching Monank is very much a precautionary one as USA's last group stage match against Ireland could be a crucial one.

USA just need a win to move to the next round of the ICC showpiece event. Winner of the India vs USA would become the first team from Group A to qualify for Super 8.

"The camp is very positive, just looking to play some good cricket. Shayan Jahangir replaces Monank and Shadley is in for Nosthush," Aaron Jones said at the toss.

Monank Patel had been dreaming of the moment to play against India for long but the injury robbed the 31-year-old's opportunity to stand with Rohit Sharma at toss.

"You dream about this kind of thing and suddenly you see yourself with Rohit Sharma on the toss time. It's unreal. It'll be a high-pressure game. Honestly, we don't want to focus too much from right now. We want to play the brand of cricket. We want to play against all the teams," Monank Patel had said ahead of the match.

IND vs USA: Unchanged India opt to bowl after winning toss

India captain Rohit Sharma had no hesitation whatsoever in opting to bowl first after winning the toss. The New York pitch has helped the seamers a lot early in the first innings.

India have made no changes and are playing with the same combination. Eyes will be on Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja. All the four players are yet to leave an impact on the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup.

United States Playing 11 vs India: Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir, Andries Gous(w), Aaron Jones(c), Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan

India Playing 11 vs USA: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj