High-flying India had an early reality check in their defence of the Twenty20 World Cup when the USA delivered some serious jolts to the hosts. But composure, poise and measured aggression from Suryakumar Yadav saved their blushes and saw them home in their championship opener at the Wankhede on Saturday night.

The skipper ensured those American blows did not turn into a catastrophe with an unbeaten knock that stood between India and the USA. When he eventually hangs up his boots, he may recall this innings with greater fondness than some of his others - including his four centuries. The unbeaten 84 off 49 was an innings of a lifetime, given the stage, match situation and the significance of the contest.

"I have played a lot of my cricket in Bombay (Mumbai), on this wicket and also on the maidans of the city. So I know how to bat on similar kinds of wickets," Suryakumar said after the match. "I have played a lot of cricket here at Azad Maidan, Cross Maidan. So I knew that if I bat till the end, I can make a difference."

Difference he did make, but if only it were so straightforward, and if familiarity with conditions and surroundings alone could produce such a knock, every game would throw up a home hero.

The Indian team was in for an early shock when they discovered that the Wankhede pitch was not what it usually is, assisting bowlers - seamers and spinners alike - with the ball seaming, swinging, spinning, stopping, gripping, holding, bouncing and carrying. The last T20 played on the surface had delivered a high-scoring thriller, with 430 runs scored and 26 sixes smashed by Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru combined in last year's IPL. On Saturday, batting became a struggle, and clearing the ropes required extra effort.

The conditions called for caution rather than the all-or-nothing, kitchen-sink approach that the Indian batters are known to adopt. Before that realisation dawned, the damage had already been done. Scores of 46 for four at the end of the PowerPlay and 76 for six in the 13th over suggested that an upset of gigantic proportions was looming. Suryakumar ensured there was no such mishap, steering the side to a safe total of 161 for nine. The bowlers did the rest.

"I always felt that there was a need for a batter to bat till the end. I never felt that it was a 180-190 wicket. I felt it was a 140 wicket. Gauti bhai (coach Gautam Gambhir) told me the same thing during the break after 14 overs. He told me, 'Just try and bat till the end; you can cover it any time'," Surya said.

The difficulty of the pitch was due to moisture beneath. With the ball gripping and stopping, timing was hard to find and playing shots in front of the wicket was challenging. Five of the nine Indian batters, including Abhishek Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh and Axar Patel - all habitual six-hitters - were caught on the boundary attempting big hits. Nine out of ten such shots would have cleared the fence. But there were only 13 sixes in the match as the batters were undone by the surface.

Suryakumar, however, refused to be undone by the surface because he did not play the pitch; he played the field. His shots unfailingly found gaps. With the third man up, fine leg became his preferred territory - he would get down on one knee and scoop the ball over the vacant region. Similar strokes were played over and through the unguarded square-leg boundary as well. He even put away a wide yorker through that region because square leg and fine leg were inside. When he did hit in front of the wicket, it was mostly off full tosses - deliveries not poisoned by the two-paced surface.

Four sixes and 10 fours in his knock may suggest a stroke-filled innings, but it was one of character, with measured aggression marked by caution and composure as mentioned above. He read the pitch early and curbed his natural strokeplay.

As wickets fell at the other end, he stood tall amid the chaos, content to take singles and twos. He was seven off 13 deliveries and 21 off 22 before launching his assault. He then struck 63 off the next 27 balls, with seven fours and four sixes, and in the final over from Saurabh Netravalkar, milked 21 runs to take India to a position of comfort. That proved to be the defining moment of the game.

"There was a little bit of a momentum shift towards the end. At the beginning, if you had said 170, we'd have been very happy, given India's past scores here. You have to give it to SKY - he played unbelievably, and you have to give credit where it's due. I think that was the batting difference, definitely," said Shadley Van Schalkwyk, the US pacer who claimed four wickets, agreeing that the India skipper was the difference between the sides.

Before the recent New Zealand series, Surya's sequence of scores were 0, 5, 12, 1, 24, 20, DNB, 12, 5, 12 and 5, leading to questions about whether he could be entrusted with the responsibility of leading the side at the World Cup. He answered those doubts during the New Zealand series, scoring 82*, 57* and 63 in three of the five T20Is, insisting he was only out of runs, not out of form. He lived up to that assertion on Saturday, launching India's World Cup defence in style.

The true value of the knock was in its ability to prevent panic from setting in the dressing room. As Mohammed Siraj would later reveal, the dressing room remained calm as long as the skipper was at the crease. "He was very calm and told us, 'I'm here, we'll move forward. Don't worry,'" Siraj said.

It was an assurance not just to his teammates, but to the entire country.