Can USA slay another giant?

The Group A fixture of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup between Asian powerhouse India and co-hosts USA on Wednesday at the Nassau County Cricket Stadium in New York is set to be the first-ever international match between the two teams.

Aside from it being a landmark game, the outcome of the match bears significance given the context of the group as the winner get to seal their entry into the Super Eight.

While this match was deemed a total mismatch ahead of the marquee event, with former champions taking on an associate nation, USA have shown that they are no pushovers.

The tournament opener saw the co-hosts earn bragging rights over neighbours Canada, but very few expected them to produce one of the biggest upsets in history in their next outing against Pakistan -- stunning the 2009 winners following a Super Over contest to garner attention in a country where the attention to cricket is yet to gain traction, leading to players like Saurabh Nethralvakar and Aaron Jones becoming overnight household names.

USA skipper Monank Patel said "beating Pakistan was a big achievement" but it was apparent that the so-called minnows had their feet on the ground.

"Before the tournament I said that we want to focus on one game at a time, and our focus will be on playing against India now," Monank said after his side's monumental win over Pakistan, whose campaign took a nosedive after India defeated them in a thriller at the same venue.

Although the possibilities of bad weather intervening today remain slim, if it happens, it will mean elimination for Pakistan and Ireland as well.

India, on the other hand, even though the men in blue can't complain about how the results have gone in their favour so far, they are yet to fire as a collective unit.

While ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah has played to his reputation, backed by fellow quick Arshdeep Singh, all-rounder Hardik Pandya finding some sort of form following a forgetful Indian Premier League campaign has been the surprising positive aspect.

On the batting front, keeper-batter Rishabh Pant has flourished but the likes of star batter Virat Kohli -- tournament's all-time leading run-scorer -- T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube, who made the cut in to the side on the back of IPL exploits, will be desperate to stamp their authority.

However, finding batting form for the big shots will be a challenge due to the playing conditions in store, with Nassau County producing several low-scoring affairs, increasing the likelihood of yet another upset.