A gutsy unbeaten 84 off 49 balls by skipper Suryakumar Yadav lifted India to 161/9 after the top order crumbled in their opening T20 World Cup clash against USA at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
India suffered an early blow when Abhishek Sharma fell first ball in the second over, caught by Sanjay Krishnamurthi at deep cover off Ali Khan.
Medium pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk then rocked India with three wickets in an over as the home side slumped to 46/4 at the end of six overs.
From the second ball of the sixth over, he had Ishan Kishan caught by Milind Kumar at mid-off for 20 in 16 balls.
Three balls later, Tilak Varma was sent back, caught by skipper Monank Patel at mid-wicket for 25 off 16 balls.
Off the very next delivery, Shivam Dube was snapped up by Saurabh Netravalkar at short fine-leg for the second golden duck of the innings.
Rinku Singh was the next to go, labouring to 6 off 14 balls before being caught at long-on by Milind Kumar off Mohammad Mohsin.
In the next over, Hardik Pandya was taken at sweeper cover by Saiteja Mukkamalla off Harmeet Singh for 5 in 6 balls to leave India at a dire 77/6 after 12.4 overs.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel then added 41 for the eighth wicket -- the highest partnership of the innings.
Axar gave Harmeet his second wicket, caught at deep midwicket by Mohsin for 14.
Suryakumar reached his 50 off 36 balls and then stepped on the accelerator, smashing 21 off the last over by Netravalkar.
Earlier, USA captain Patel won the toss and elected to field. His counterpart Suryakumar said at the toss that he was planning to bat first anyway.
India suffered a blow in the run-up to the game with an unwell Jasprit Bumrah being left out. Mohammed Siraj, an eleventh hour addition to the squad in place of the injured Harshit Rana, took his place in the eleven.
Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson and Kuldeep Yadav are the other players in the squad to miss out.
India XI: Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
USA XI: Saiteja Mukkamalla, Andries Gous (wk), Monank Patel (captain), Milind Kumar, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan