USA team beats Pakistan in drama in Dallas for T20 Cricket World Cup

“What matters is winning,” JREwing said in that famous Dallas episode. That’s exactly what the U.S. cricket team did on a perfect, sunny morning in Texas, about an hour’s drive from Southfork Ranch. They defeated 2009 champions Pakistan in the T20 Cricket World Cup at Grande Prairie Stadium in front of more than 6,000 spectators. Not only that, but they did it in a thrilling Super Over after both teams had scored 159 runs in the 20 overs.

Cricket still doesn’t rank among the top primetime viewers in the world’s biggest sports markets, but a win for the hosts over a strong team probably won’t hurt in spreading the message: the Cricket World Cup marks a spectacular return of international football to its home turf.

The United States is 19th^Number They are second in the T20 rankings behind the United Arab Emirates. A win against the sixth-ranked team in the world will send shock waves through soccer-loving South Asia, but it may have more than just a ripple effect on American soccer.

The U.S. is coming off an equally thrilling win over Canada in the tournament opener on Saturday night, and with two wins from two games, they proudly sit atop Group A. The star batsman in both games was Aaron Jones. Just when it seemed his team was losing steam, the Queens-born but Barbados-raised batsman smashed two more sixes against a superior Pakistan attack to add to his 10 points against the Maple Leafs.

The match then went into a one-over tiebreak, with Jones taking advantage of a poor over from Pakistan’s star bowler Mohammed Amir to push the Americans to 18 runs after Amir bowled a brilliant 19.^Number He was over in the main game and took his team to the brink of victory, only to collapse in the shootout with a total of seven wides. When it was Pakistan’s turn to chase 19 runs, they seemed mentally defeated and fell just six runs short.

The Americans have been part of two of the most exciting T20 World Cup matches so far. Considering they had never played a T20 international before 2019, it’s been a sensational start and will no doubt help stir the pockets of investors who are already pumping millions into cricket in the U.S. The only way to improve is to beat the best teams, and that’s exactly what Monak Patel’s team has done here.

“The win over Pakistan is a big accomplishment,” Patel said. “It’s a big day for the U.S. team, not just for the U.S. but for the U.S. cricket community.” And he may be right.

The USA got on a roll from the start, sending Mohammed Rizwan, their third-best batsman in this format, back to the pavilion with a brilliant slip catch by Steven Taylor off a Saurabh Netravalkar delivery. The Green Tigers stumbled to 26 for 3 under sharp defensive pressure and could not turn the strike. Shadab Khan and captain Babar Azam managed to switch on and accelerate, looking to take the initiative before the wicket collapsed again.

Netravalkar was the standout bowler with figures of 2 for 18 from his four overs and also showed courage in bowling the Super Over. He is a principal engineer at Oracle by trade and showed complete control of his bowling technique here. Nostasha Kenjige also bowled brilliantly, taking 30 for 30 and taking the vital wicket of Shadab for 40.

The USA looked to be comfortably closing in on their target of 160 after captain Patel hit a brilliant half-century in partnership with Andries Goose, the highly-rated South African-born batsman who had anchored Jones’ attack against Canada, but the scoring rate slowed after both were dismissed within six balls of each other with nearly 50 runs needed.

With 15 runs needed off the final over and 12 off the final three balls, the match was suddenly doomed for Pakistan. A maximum from Jones and a boundary off the last ball from Nitish Kumar levelled the scores, ensuring the drama of a tie-breaker. Babar was furious that seamer Haris Rauf failed to bowl a decent length ball, just one example of the frustration and lack of control that has spread like wildfire among the 2022 underdogs. Pakistan’s chances of progress as they prepare for a landmark match against India on June 9 now hang in the balance.

This USA team believed in themselves and their celebration and team spirit at the end of the game was clear. “If we beat Pakistan or India I wouldn’t call it an upset, I just say we played better cricket on the day. It’s a cricket game and sometimes bigger teams lose,” Jones said ahead of the best week of cricket of his life.

The American cricket dream is alive and well. Now they can get ready to take on the world’s best team, India, in front of a capacity crowd in New York on Wednesday. How could they not?