U.S. stun Pakistan in Super Over to seal famous victory
The United States defeated Pakistan in a Super Over in Dallas on Thursday, causing one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history and securing their second victory of the tournament.
Pakistan, the 2009 champions, recovered from a poor start to score 159-7, but the United States scored 14 runs in their final over to finish on 159-3 and force a Super Over.
The tournament co-hosts scored 18-1, with two wides from Pakistan, before holding their opponents to 13-1 to seal a famous victory.
"It's a big achievement beating Pakistan and playing for the first time," U.S. captain and player of the match Monank Patel said.
"The way we played today I'm really proud of the boys and it was a complete team effort from ball one to the last ball."
Pakistan captain Babar Azam lamented his team's batting performance.
"We didn't capitalise with the bat and they took a lot of momentum. Credit to USA, they performed so well today. They were better than us in all aspects of the game," Babar said.
The match began under blue skies on a hot day in Texas, with Pakistan quickly reeling at 30 for three against an attack that included five bowlers born in the Indian subcontinent or to Indian parents.
Mohammad Rizwan (9), Usman Khan (3), and Fakhar Zaman (11) were quickly eliminated, leaving only Babar to reach 44 before being caught by medium-pacer Jasdeep Singh.
Nosthush Kenjige, a left-arm orthodox spinner born in Alabama, dismissed Shadab Khan (40) and Azam Khan (0) with successive balls to finish with three for 30 from four overs.
Tall left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi added respectability to the scorecard with two sixes and a four, finishing on 23 not out.
Afridi took the new ball and conceded three boundaries in his first two overs as the U.S. batsmen went for their shots, finishing on 44 for one at the end of the powerplay.
South African-born Andries Gous, who scored 65 in his team's first win over Canada, was off to a quick start, driving Rauf through the covers for four.
Gous struck Pakistan's most successful T20 bowler, leg-spinner Shadab Khan, for six, while Patel hit consecutive boundaries off Iftikhar Ahmed and lofted Afridi for six to reach 50.
Rauf bowled Gaus for 35, and Mohammad Amir caught Patel behind, before Aaron Jones took over with an unbeaten 36.
The United States needed 15 runs from their final over to surpass Pakistan's 159 for seven, with the powerful Jones at the crease facing experienced paceman Haris Rauf.
Jones hit the fourth ball over long-on for six, but could only get a single off the fifth, putting Nitish Kumar on strike with five needed for victory and four to send the match to a Super Over.
Kumar rose to the challenge, stepping outside his leg stump and chipping a full toss over mid-off to the boundary.
Jones and Harmeet Singh scored 18 runs in the Super Over by running hard between the wickets, and while Pakistan hit two boundaries, they needed six off the last ball to force another Super Over and only managed a single.
SportsLigue