GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (AP) — The United States pulled off a major upset in the T20 World Cup on Thursday, beating cricket powerhouse Pakistan in a super over.
The U.S. swept Canada in their Group A opener, but beating 2022 runners-up Pakistan in a country that barely understands the rules of the game counts as historic.
Scotland then went on to top Group B with a five-wicket win over Namibia at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, with Namibia scoring 155 for 9, with Scotland reaching the winning tally with nine balls remaining.
Aaron Jones, who scored 94 consecutive runs from 40 balls against Canada, once again starred for the co-hosts as he played a crucial knock of 36 runs off 26 balls to take the match into a Super Over.
Jones hit a six off Haris Rauf in successive deliveries followed by a single but the final ball bounded off Nitish Kumar and the scores were level at 159-159 at the end of regulation time, with Pakistan’s experienced fast bowler giving up 14 runs off the last six balls.
Pakistan panicked in the Super Over as experienced fast bowler Mohammed Amir, who was preferred over Shaheen Shah Afridi, gave away 18 runs, including seven off a wide ball as Jones smashed a boundary against the left-arm fast bowler.
Left-arm fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar bowled brilliantly, taking 2-18 in his four overs and conceding just 13 runs in the Super Over to power the USA to their most historic Twenty20 win in history against 2009 champions Pakistan.
Iftikhar Ahmed smashed a boundary off Netravalkar’s second ball before holing out over long-off, but the left-arm seamer kept his cool to hand the United States a famous win.
“It’s a big achievement to win against Pakistan for the first time,” said US captain Monankh Patel. “We took advantage of the situation and restricted them to 160, a score we could have caught up with.”
It has been a disastrous start for captain Babar Azam’s Pakistan, who are set to take on arch rivals India in New York on Sunday.
“Kudos to the USA for performing well in all three departments and that’s why we won,” Babar said. “We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities in the first six overs. We were on a roll but successive wickets hurt us.”
The USA looked set to stun Pakistan in the regular game when captain Patel hit a 38-ball fifty to lead the home team to 104 for 1 in the 13th over, along with Andries Guth (35). But Pakistan rallied back, dismissing both set batsmen in successive overs as the USA finished at 159 for 3.
Patel and Goose added 68 for the second wicket as Pakistan’s four-man pace attack, led by Shaheen Shah Afridi, failed to trouble them and leg-spinner Shadab Khan was also in poor form before Amir gave Pakistan a ray of hope.
Amir caught Patel behind with a slow off-cutter and Ghose was clean-bowled by Rauf, but Rauf, who bowled his final over with 15 runs to spare, could not stop Jones and Kumar delivering two big hits in the final three balls to take the match to a Super Over.
Pakistan’s batting, which has struggled for a year in the sport’s shortest format, was further exposed by disciplined US seam bowling after Patel won the toss, opted to defend and restricted his opponents to 159-7.
Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan were again deployed as the opening pair but could not save them, with the middle order stumbling on a slow wicket.
Steven Taylor took a brilliant one-handed catch inches from the turf on Netravalkar’s second delivery to get Rizwan out and give the local team a perfect start.
The left-arm spin of Nostash Kenjige (3-30) also troubled the Pakistan batsmen inside the powerplay, when Usman Khan played a reckless shot and was run out, and Fakhar Zaman’s weak ramp shot failed to get past the fielder at short fine leg inside the 30-yard circle, leaving Pakistan retreating to 26-3 after five overs.
Babar (44) and Shadab Khan (40) tried to regain momentum and built a 72-run stand before Kensige broke the threatening stand in the 13th over when Shadab was brilliantly snapped at short fine leg by Netravalkar and Azam Khan was pinned down leg-before-wicket off the first ball by the left-arm spinner.
Babar, who became the world’s leading run-getter in T20 games, surpassing Virat Kohli’s record of 4,038 runs, was in poor form in his 43-ball batsmanship that included two sixes and three boundary runs, but fell lbw off Jasdeep Singh’s delivery in the 16th over to see Pakistan slip to 125 for six.
It was only thanks to Shaheen Shah Afridi’s 23 runs off 16 balls, including two sixes towards the end, that Pakistan’s total in the death overs was raised.
Scotland wins
Captain Richie Berrington scored a not-scored 47 off 35 balls and forged a 74-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Michael Leask (35 off 17 balls) to guide Scotland to their first win against Namibia in four T20 internationals.
Scotland picked up a point in their rain-cancelled opening match against England and currently sit top of Group B with three points, ahead of Australia and Namibia, both with two points each, who completed their opener by beating Oman in a super over.
Australia will play England on Saturday.
Captain Gerhard Erasmus scored 52 off 30 balls and shared 51 for the fifth wicket with Zane Green (28) as Namibia elected to bat and made 155 for 9.
Namibia lost three wickets in the powerplay and went from 48-3 to 105-6 when Erasmus was out in the 14th over. Erasmus then took 2-14 in the eighth and 10th overs to help Scotland to 69-3 midway through the innings when the match looked to be tipping in Namibia’s favour.
But with Scotland leading 73 for 4 after 11 overs, Berrington and Leask combined to lead the team to victory, with Leask taking 1 for 16 and being named MVP of the match.
“A lot of people came out to watch, it showed their faith,” Leask said. “I don’t think I’ll get over this for a while. It really stinks.”
“My role is simple: hit the ball hard, look for gaps and if there are gaps, hit them off the ground.”
With the outcome of the match still uncertain, Scotland needed 47 off the final five overs and Leask made the chase easier with two sixes off 19 in the 17th over.
Berrington ended the match with a six off the third ball of the 19th over.
“There is a great rivalry between us and after scoring 150 points in the World Cup there couldn’t have been a better chance to get a much-needed win,” Erasmus said. “Unfortunately we missed that chance.”
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