The co-hosts will be hoping to maintain the momentum from their opening win against a rocky Pakistan at Grande Prairie Stadium.
Who: Pakistan vs America
what: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Group A matches
when: Thursday 6th June, 10:30am local time (15:30pm GMT)
where: Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas, USA
How to follow: Al Jazeera’s live text coverage begins at 12:30 GMT
The United States will be hoping to build on the momentum of their victory in the opening match of the T20 World Cup when they take on struggling Pakistan in a Group A match in Dallas.
The co-hosts recorded a seven-wicket win over neighbours Canada thanks to some combative batting from Aaron Jones, and USA captain Monankh Patel believes his team can cause an early upset in the tournament by beating Pakistan on Thursday.
“It’s T20. [cricket]If we play well on the field for 30-40 minutes, we can win the game. [from Pakistan]Patel told reporters at the pre-match press conference:
“I have a vision of competing in the Super Eight. [stage] “I want to focus on one match at a time,” he said.
Good morning, Dallas! 🤩#TeamUSA Ready for the second match @ICC @T20 World Cup! 💪🔥
🏏 America 🆚 Pakistan
⏰ 8:30 AM PDT | 10:30 AM CDT | 11:30 AM EDT
📍 Dallas, Texas
📺 Willow#T20WorldCup | #WeAreUSACricket 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0XXtxBw0bT— USA Cricket (@usacricket) June 6, 2024
The US team is made up of a diverse group of players, most of whom are of South Asian descent – first-match hero Jones grew up in the Caribbean, but others got their start in South Africa and New Zealand.
Patel insists it’s “good to have diversity” in the team but says they will all be united when planning for the USA.
The Americans will be wary of a challenge from the 2009 champions, particularly their captain and star batsman Babar Azam.
“Babar is a great batsman in all formats. [of cricket] So, his wicket will be really important,” Patel acknowledged.
While the US’s strength lies in its experienced batting line-up, Patel said his team would face a stiff challenge from Pakistan’s fast-bowling attack, particularly Mohammed Amir, who they would have to “handle well.”
Amir, who will be returning to Pakistan’s World Cup squad for the first time in four years, said he would “like to work together” with regular seamers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah.
“We’re back in a great dressing room and we have a very clear plan for each player,” Amir said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old, who was part of Pakistan’s title-winning squad in 2009, said the team was ready to bounce back from their recent T20 series defeat to England and start the tournament with a win.
“There is no room for mistakes in the World Cup so we are mentally and physically ready to win.”
Pitch and weather conditions
The tournament opened in Dallas with both teams scoring in the 190s, which should bode well for fans worried about the low-scoring games in New York.
The weather forecast for the daytime game at Grande Prairie Stadium is sunny.
Face to face
This will be the first meeting between the two teams in any format of cricket.
shape
Coming into this tournament, Pakistan had been in a string of ups and downs, having won the T20 series against Ireland but losing to England last month.
The U.S. will be coming into the match full of confidence having already claimed a victory with a 2-1 win over Bangladesh last month.
Pakistan: no
united states of america: Wowwww
pakistan team news
Pakistan will have to decide whether to drop experienced leg-spinner Shadab Khan to accommodate a four-man seam attack and could also replace out-of-form wicketkeeper Azam Khan with top-order batsman Saim Ayub.
team: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammed Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammed Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abbas Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
USA team news
The U.S. is unlikely to make any changes to the 11 players who played in its first World Cup victory over Canada.
team: Monak Patel (captain), Shayan Jahangir, Andries Goos, Nitish Kumar, Steven Taylor, Harmeet Singh, Corey Anderson, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Shadlee van Schalkwyk, Ali Khan, Jesse Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Noshish Kenjige
