Dallas: It was always going to take something big to make Americans pay any attention to cricket and Thursday’s stunning victory by the USA over established power Pakistan provided just that moment.
The thrilling Super Over triumph in Dallas by the T20 World Cup debutants over the 2022 finalists and 2009 winners was the biggest upset in the history of the competition.
Pakistan’s shock loss to the co-hosts USA in the Super Over in their opening match of the T20 World Cup on Thursday, captain Babar Azam admitted that his team did not perform optimally in all three departments of the game.
Pakistan struggled early, losing three wickets to stand at 30 for 3 by the end of the powerplay. Babar Azam and Shadab Khan then stabilized the innings with a 72-run partnership off 48 balls. Despite their efforts the USA restricted Pakistan to 159/7, then matched the score and went on to win in the Super Over to create a major upset.
According to Babar, Pakistan were off the mark in the Powerplay, slow through the middle overs and disappointing at the death with the bat. Then with the ball they didn’t execute early plans with pace on, and failed to take wickets with spin through the middle overs.
“To be honest, whenever you lose a game, you are always upset. We did not play well in all three departments. For six overs, I think we did not capitalise properly, but later on, after the 10th over we got momentum, but again we lost too many wickets and then your momentum is gone. So, I think as a batting unit we need to step it up in the middle and in the end,” Babar said after the match.
Pakistan will next play arch-rivals India in New York on Sunday. And Babar said that the death-over strategy with the ball for that crunch match will not change despite their loss against USA.
