Texas [USA],: After a 2-1 series win over Bangladesh in the ICC T20 World Cup co-hosted by the United States and the West Indies, U.S. coach Stuart Law said there were no favorites to win and that his team had more drive and passion than their opponents in the first two games and wanted to win more than Bangladesh. In his first stint as new U.S. head coach, Stuart Law has already helped the team to a record-breaking first T20I series win against a full-role team.
After the series win, Lowe claimed the US came out of Texas with a stronger determination to win than Bangladesh.
“In the first two matches, there was more desire and passion for the game,” Rowe said after the final T20I match as cited by the ICC.
Bangladesh bounced back with a 10-wicket win in the final match thanks to a brilliant bowling performance from Mustafizur Rahman, who took career-best T20I figures of 6/10 to restrict the US to 104/9. Tanjid Hasan’s unbeaten 58* off 42 balls helped Bangladesh chase down the lead without losing a wicket.
With the series victory already decided, the United States rested key players such as captain Monank Patel, opener Steven Taylor, all-rounder Harmeet Singh and fast bowler Ali Khan, testing the reserves with the T20 World Cup looming.
“We wanted to win a little bit more than them. Today was different. We might have let our guard down a little bit. Bangladesh played quite well. I think they will take this in stride,” Low said.
“It’s great preparation. Playing a match is much better than hitting the ball into the net. Anything can happen in a one-off match. That’s what the World Cup is like – no one goes in as an absolute favourite.”
“We were in a privileged position to win the series today. It was good to give the other players an opportunity. We wanted to make sure everyone got some matches before going into the World Cup. The World Cup is going to be intense. Every game is like a final. Both our two wins here were very good performances,” Low concluded.
Stand-in captain Aaron Jones argued that a US win over Pakistan or India would not be called an “upset,” backing up Rowe’s assertion that “there are no favourites to win.”
“We are a very good team and we obviously showed what we are capable of against Bangladesh, one of the best teams in the world. I wouldn’t call it an upset if we had beaten Pakistan or India, but I would just say we played better on the day. It’s a cricket game and even good teams can lose,” Jones said.
The co-hosts are in Group A with India, Pakistan, Ireland and Canada and will kick off the T20 World Cup with their first match against Canada on June 1 in Dallas.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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