One Hundred and Sixty Unbroken: Milind Kumar's 116 Not Out Hauls USA Past 330 and Level With Scotland in League 2

A 50-over chase of 331 is rarely won in one rush. It is won in instalments: a start that does not lose too much, a middle that keeps the asking rate in sight, and then — if you are lucky enough to have the right two people in at the right time — a finish that makes the whole thing look inevitable. At Grand Prairie Stadium, the United States had the first two in reasonable order, and in Milind Kumar and Shubham Ranjane they had the third.

United Arab Emirates 330 for 8 (50 overs). United States of America 332 for 4 (48.5 overs). USA won by 6 wickets with 7 balls remaining. Milind Kumar made 116 not out from 84 balls and took two catches, and was Player of the Match. He and Ranjane added 160 for the fifth wicket without being separated. The win takes USA to 45 points from 33 games in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 — level with Scotland's final total, with three matches still to play.

USA chose to field, and for a long time UAE made them pay for it. Tanish Suri and Adeeb Usmani got through the first powerplay without losing a wicket and were not separated until the 13th over, when Ranjane had Usmani caught behind for 36 with the score on 70. Suri was the more fluent of the two — ten fours and two sixes in a 78-ball 78, his fifty coming from 57 balls — and with Muhammad Shahdad he added 80 more for the second wicket before Milind Kumar caught him off Ehsan Adil at 150 in the 27th over.

Through the middle overs UAE did what a side batting first in an ODI wants to do: they kept wickets in hand and kept the board moving. They were 162 for 2 after 30 overs, a platform from which 300 is the par and more is possible. Shahdad was the man who held it together. His fifty took 72 balls and was built rather than struck; his second fifty came much quicker, and he reached his hundred from 101 balls with seven fours and three sixes. He finished with 114 from 107.

The innings was reshaped at the back end by Harmeet Singh. All four of his wickets came from the 38th over onwards — Shahdad, Sohaib Khan, Khuzaima Tanveer and Ali Naseer — and between 276 for 4 and 296 for 8, UAE lost four wickets for 20 runs in under three overs. Harmeet's ten overs cost 65, not cheap, but in a game of 662 runs it was the spell that stopped the total from running away.

It still got to 330, and that was down to Basil Hameed. He came in at 278 for 6 and hit three sixes in 24 not out from 11 balls, and with Aayan Afzal Khan (6 not out) added 34 for the ninth wicket from the last 14 balls. The 300 came up in the 48th over. Saurabh Netravalkar was USA's most economical bowler — 8.1 overs, two maidens, 38 runs and Harpreet Singh's wicket — while Jasdeep Singh's 7.5 overs went for 72.

Smit Patel started the chase as though he had seen the target: 27 from 22 balls with five fours before Aayan Afzal Khan trapped him lbw at 38 in the sixth over. Shehan Jayasuriya made 9 from 15 and was caught off Ibrar Ahmad at 60 for 2 in the tenth. That was the first powerplay — two wickets down, where UAE had lost none in the same phase.

Monank Patel and Saiteja Mukkamalla then did the unglamorous work of the middle overs. They added 74 for the third wicket, from 60 to 134 in the 24th over, and both went on to half-centuries: Monank 55 from 62 balls, Mukkamalla 56 from 62 with two sixes. Neither stayed to see it through, and when the fourth wicket fell at 172 in the 31st over, USA needed 159 from 117 balls — a required rate of a little over eight an over, with six wickets in hand and the two set batters gone.

It is worth pausing on that moment, because at 30 overs UAE had been 162 for 2. Half an over later, USA were ten runs ahead on the board, but two wickets further behind, and the asking rate was climbing. This is the point in a big chase where the game usually decides which way it is going to lean.

It leaned towards Dallas. Milind Kumar, who had come in at 134, and Ranjane, who had already bowled his ten overs for 54 and a wicket, added 160 from 110 balls without giving UAE a chance to get back in. The rate was close to 8.7 an over, just ahead of what was needed, which is the ideal way to chase: never so far behind that you have to panic, never so far ahead that you start to drift.

Ranjane's 57 not out from 49 balls had three sixes in it, and it mattered that he kept up — it meant the bowlers could not settle on one end. UAE went through six bowlers and none of them could stop the flow. Basil Hameed's seven overs cost only 38, Khuzaima Tanveer bowled a maiden in his eight, and Ali Naseer took Mukkamalla's wicket. But Ibrar Ahmad's nine went for 82 and Aayan Afzal Khan's ten for 72, and on a day when 330 had to be defended, there was not enough control to go round. USA got home with seven balls left.

It would be harsh to judge UAE too severely. A first-innings 330 in League 2 is a strong total, and Shahdad, who also bowled five overs and took Monank Patel's wicket, had about as complete a day as a player on a losing side can have. Their top three made 228 between them. They simply came up against a pair of batters who chased with unusual calm. UAE stay on 19 points from 30 games, and their Dallas stop has now brought a no-result against Namibia on October 3 and this defeat.

One hundred and sixteen not out from 84 balls, seven fours and five sixes. Two catches in the field, one of them to remove Suri when he was threatening to take the game away. Five overs of his own bowling, too. Milind Kumar came into this match as the leading run-scorer of the 2023-27 League 2 cycle with 1,214 runs; he leaves it with 1,330.

What stands out is not just the number but the circumstance. He walked in at 134 for 3, and by the time the fourth wicket fell, USA needed more than eight an over with the set batters gone. A chase of that size can feel like climbing a hill that keeps adding to its height. He made it look flat. There is a particular kind of batter who becomes calmer as the target becomes harder, and in Dallas he was exactly that.

The table tells the story of what this win was worth. USA's top-four place was already secure, so this was not about survival — it was about the top of the ladder. Scotland have finished on 45. USA are now on 45 with three games to play, which means one more win would take them past Scotland's total.

CricIntel did not publish a preview for this match, so there is no prediction to grade. We do have one for USA's next game — our preview of USA v Namibia on October 7.

USA stay in Dallas to play Namibia on October 7. They go into it with their qualification already settled and a real chance to finish the cycle on top of the table. They also go into it knowing their bowling conceded 330 and needed Harmeet's late burst to keep it there — something to think about before the next one.

For UAE, the lesson of the day is a slightly cruel one: the batting did its job. Suri and Shahdad gave them a total that wins plenty of 50-over games. The bowling, on this occasion, did not have an answer once the fifth-wicket stand got going, and in a chase of this size, the stand that goes unbroken is the one that decides everything.