Srinagar: Pakistan started its T20 World Cup 2024 on a shocking note as they were stunned by hosts USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas, on Thursday.
In the match of Group A , USA stunned Pakistan by five runs in a Super Over thriller. With that hosts moved to top of points table in Group A.
Earlier Pakistan posted a 160-run target while batting first. USA managed to level on the last ball of the last over as they concluded their innings at 159-3.
In the Super Over, Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir took the ball and the USA concluded their innings 18-1 and in reply, Pakistan could only score 13-1 and ended up losing the match by five runs.
Here are current standings across all the groups currently.
Earlier while chasing the target USA batted with caution and they managed to take the game deep. Their skipper Monank Patel led the charge from the front and scored 50 runs before being dismissed by Mohammad Amir.
The USA needed 21 runs from 12 balls which is when Amir bowled an exceptional over as he only conceded six runs, leaving 15 runs to be defended in the last over.
Haris Rauf took the ball in the last over but things didn’t go the right-armer’s way. He was smashed for a six on his fourth ball of the over and the USA then needed six runs from two balls. However, on the last ball of the innings, five were required off one and then Nitish Kumar scored a four to level the scores.
For Pakistan, Shaheen Afridi went wicketless while Amir, Naseem Shah and Haris managed to bag one each.
Earlier in Pakistan’s innings, the USA had a brilliant start with the ball as their bowlers sent the Pakistani top-order — Mohammad Rizwan, Usman Khan and Fakhar Zaman — back to the pavilion for just 26 runs.
However, after losing three wickets, skipper Babar Azam and Shadab Khan played with caution and put the struggling Pakistani side back in the game.
A 72-run partnership between Babar and Shadab helped Pakistan go on top once again but Shadab walked back to the pavilion after scoring 40 runs on 25 balls.
Right after Shadab’s dismissal, wicketkeeper batter Azam Khan got out on a golden duck and the wickets continued to fall.
Babar Azam scored 44 off 43. Iftikhar Ahmed departed after scoring 18 runs.
Shaheen Afridi (23 off 16 balls) provided crucial runs to Pakistan down the order and helped them conclude their innings at 159-7 in the allocated overs.