Pakistan suffered a shock defeat to hosts USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas. In a closely fought match, the men in green suffered a humiliating defeat to the hosts by five runs in their opening match.
Immediately after the match, Pakistan captain Babar Azam harshly criticised the Pakistan bowlers for not adhering to their line and length. He also said that given their bowling prowess, they should have defended a total of 159.
Speaking to the presenter after the match, Babar said: “I think the second innings helped us too but we didn’t live up to our expectations in terms of pitching. It was lacking in the first 10 overs. We picked up after that but they had already lost the momentum. But considering the way we bowled we could have defended that total. On this pitch I think it was a defendable total with our pitches.”
“We are the better bowler. We didn’t get any wickets in the first six overs. If the spinners don’t get wickets in the middle overs, it puts them under pressure. We came back after 10 overs but I think credit goes to the US team for the way the game ended in the Super Over,” the Pakistan captain added.
Particularly asked to bat first, Pakistan got off to a shaky start, losing three crucial wickets in the first six overs – Usman Khan, Mohammed Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman. However, Shadab Khan and captain Babar Azam combined to help Pakistan post a decent total. However, the US batsmen, spearheaded by captain Monankh Patel, were unable to match Pakistan’s total and the match went into a Super Over.
America’s Aaron Jones scored 18 runs off six balls in the Super Over when he hit Mohammed Amir, while Pakistan could only score 13 runs off six balls and ultimately lost by five runs.
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