The United States beat Pakistan in a Super Over in Dallas on Thursday to achieve one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history and secure their second win of the tournament.
Pakistan, the 2009 champions, recovered from a poor start to score 159-7 but the U.S. plundered 14 runs from their final over to finish on 159-3 and send the match to a Super Over.
The tournament co-hosts made 18-1, helped by two wides from Pakistan, before restricting 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 bemoaned his side’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.
BLUE SKIES
Afridi took the new ball, conceding three boundaries in his first two overs as the U.S. batsmen went for their shots to reach 44 for one at the end of the powerplay.
South African-born Andries Gous, who scored 65 in his team’s opening win over Canada, was quickly into his stride, driving Rauf through the covers for four.