You couldn’t expect a worse start. The Pakistan cricket team has suffered their worst-ever loss, losing to the USA in their T20 World Cup 2024 opener. The Babar Azam-led team was 26/3 while batting first, but crawled their way to what seemed like a competitive total of 159.
But, at one time, they looked completely clueless. The USA was cruising through at 104/1 after 13 overs. Then Pakistan came back in style. Soon, the home side needed 15 off the last over. That got worse, and with 12 needed off the last 3 balls, all looked lost. Then, Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar pulled off something incredible, scoring 11 runs and sending the Pakistan vs USA match into a super over.
Harmeet Singh and Aaron came to bat in the super over and smashed Mohammed Amir for 18 runs as the pacer failed to find any control. In reply, Saurabh Netravalkar conceded just 15 runs, and the USA claimed an historic victory at the Grand Prairie Stadium.
Team Pakistan Player Ratings vs USA: Who scored 10/10?
Mohammad Rizwan (5/10): The opener got off to a great start but was undone by a great ball and an even better catch. Usually their most dependable batter, he couldn’t do much against Steven Taylor’s superhuman effort.
Babar Azam (7/10): Many would call the Pakistan captain’s 44 a match-losing one. But to everyone who saw it, they could see that Babar fought not only the USA but his fellow batters as well. His partners kept falling like flies, and although he could have ended up with a better strike rate, he still ended up as their top scorer.
Usman Khan (2/10): The batter showed intent from the get-go but couldn’t kick on, scoring 3(3).
Fakhar Zaman (5/10): The southpaw smashed a six on his first ball but, much like others, couldn’t capitalize and fell for 11(7).
Shadab Khan (5.5/10): Definitely the best batter for Pakistan. The all-rounder scored 40(25) and it was his quick striking that pulled Pakistan out of a mess (26/3). However, he undid all the good work he’d done with the bat when he took the ball. As their main spinner, he went for 27 in his 3 overs and failed to get a wicket. In the powerplay, he scored 3(3) but in his defence, scoring 14 off 3 wasn’t going to be an easy task.
Azam Khan (0/10): You can’t explain exactly what Azam did. He missed a slow straight delivery from left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige and looked completely out of confidence.
Iftikhar Ahmed (5/10): Played a small cameo 18(14) and rescued the team after they were 98/5. He stabilized things when Azam Khan and Babar Azam got out. He also bowled one over that went for 10. In the super over, he swung hard but only scored 4(3), leaving Pakistan in a massive hole.
Shaheen Afridi (7/10): 33/0 after 4 overs. You might think those numbers aren’t good when defending 160. But you have to remember how good he bowled. Catches that no one went for and bowled at least half a dozen yorkers in his last two overs. As for his batting, he got Pakistan to 159 by hitting 23(16).
Haris Rauf (3/10): One could attribute Pakistan’s loss to Haris. Although it’s not apt to blame a team’s loss on a single player but to go for 11 runs in his last three balls and send your team to a super over where a win was basically guaranteed.
Naseem Shah (7.5/10): An incredible outing for Naseem, but considering the situation, you would have liked Naseem to pick one more wicket. 26/1 in 4 overs isn’t bad by all means, but given the high standards he’s set, he was short.
Mohammed Amir (6/10): Making his T20 World Cup return, Amir didn’t start or end well. He gave away just 25 runs and took Monank Patel’s wicket. This spell also included a 6-run penultimate over. However, all that was undone when he came to bowl the super over and gave 18 runs, seven of which were extras.
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