USA shock Pakistan to secure dramatic Super Over victory

OSCAR RESS: Tournament hosts USA maintained an unbeaten start to their T20 World Cup campaign with a dramatic Super Over win by six runs over Pakistan

Oscar Ress | 06/06/2024 at 20:49

Dallas: Pakistan 159-7 & 13-1, USA 159-3 & 18-1 - USA won by five runs after a Super Over

USA maintained an unbeaten start to their Men's T20 World Cup campaign with a dramatic Super Over win by six runs over Pakistan.

The USA restricted Pakistan to 159-7 off their 20 overs before Nitish Kumar (14) hit the final ball of the innings to the boundary to force a Super Over.

In the Super Over, USA managed 18 runs which included only ten runs off the bat before Saurabh Netravalkar kept his cool in the Dallas heat to take a wicket and concede just 13 runs.

The Pakistan powerplay belonged to the USA as they had the visitors 30 for 3, Muhammad Rizwan (9) fell first to a stunning diving catch from Steven Taylor at first slip, Usman Khan (3) then found long off and Fakhar Zaman (11) ramped straight to short fine leg.

Babar Azam (44 off 43), who started very slowly, and Shadab Khan (40 off 25 balls) combined for an innings-defining partnership of 72 before being broken by left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige (3-30), who struck a ball later to remove Azam Khan lbw first ball.

USA would have been happy to restrict Pakistan to 159 for 7, their effort highlighted by an economical spell of 2 for 18 from Netravalkar, which included the wickets of Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed (18).

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Jasdeep Singh celebrates the wicket of Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for 44 (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)

Taylor (12), was the first to fall to Naseem Shah (1 for 26) as he edged behind but captain, Monank Patel (50 off 38), and Andries Gous (35) combined to forge a promising partnership of 68 and captilised on scoring opportunities to keep the USA above the rate.

Just as it seemed the Dallas heat had begun to take its toll on Pakistan, Haris Rauf made the breakthrough when he bowled Gous and Mohammad Amir got the important wicket of Patel in quick succession.

Those two wickets disrupted the flow of the chase and the Pakistan quicks began to turn the screw on the USA batters to leave 21 required off the last two overs.

In truth, the USA had control of almost the entirety of the match but they ran out of steam until Kumar struck the final ball for four to take the game to a Super Over.

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