Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup: USA Orchestrates Shocking Victory Over Pakistan

At the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup in Dallas on Thursday, the US cricket team pulled off an unexpected victory over Pakistan, a formidable side, after winning the thrilling Super Over match.

Considered one of the biggest upsets in cricket history, the exhilarating victory was the biggest in US history.

Player of the match Monank Patel, the captain of the team, gave a speech about the significance of the historic win for both the nation and the team.

“I am happy with the win. Playing against Pakistan for the first time in the World Cup and beating them, it was an unbelievable performance from our side,” he explained reporters after the match.

“I would say it’s a big day for Team USA and for the USA cricket community too,” he explained.

Along with the West Indies, the United States is co-hosting the T20 World Cup for the first time. This is the country’s maiden debut at the competition.

It is impossible to overstate the significance of Thursday’s victory. The US does not consider cricket to be a popular sport, although Pakistan has a long history in the game, having won the 2009 T20 World Cup and advanced to the final in 2022.

“Of course, beating Pakistan in the World Cup is going to open many doors for us,” explained Patel. “Obviously, hosting the World Cup in USA and performing here as a team, it helps us to grow the cricket in USA.”

The US squad is ranked No. 18, whereas Pakistan is ranked No. 6 in the globe.

To the joy of US spectators at Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium, Nitish Kumar hit a match-saving boundary to trigger the Super Over, a tie-breaking tactic in which whomever scores the most runs from six balls wins.

The United States scored a competitive 18 runs in the tie-breaking over.

Bowler Saurabh Netravalkar led the US team. He grabbed the ball in the Super Over and held Pakistan’s hitters to only 13 runs, which was enough to win.

For Oracle software developer Netravalkar, it has been an incredible experience. Although he was born in Mumbai, he relocated to the US to complete his master’s programme in computer engineering at Cornell University in New York, according to ESPN.

After coming to the US, he took up cricket as a hobby. In 2019, he made his debut for the national team, which he has captained before. He is a Major League Cricket player for the Washington Freedom, playing domestically.

There are still two group-stage games left for the US, which defeated Canada in its inaugural match and leads Group A with four points after defeating Ireland and India.

The United States would go directly to the Super 8 elimination stage if they were to finish first in their group.

On Sunday in New York, India, a pre-tournament favourite and another member of Group A, will play Pakistan.