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USA stun Pakistan in World Cup super over thriller
The United States beat Pakistan in a super over in Dallas on Thursday (Friday AEST) in one of the biggest upsets in Twenty20 World Cup history to secure their second win of the tournament.
Pakistan, the 2009 champions, recovered from a poor start to score 7-159 but the US plundered 14 runs from their final over to finish on 3-159 and send the match to a super over.
US bowler Saurabh Netralvakar celebrates the shock win in Texas.Credit: AP
Aaron Jones, who smashed an unbeaten 40-ball 94 in the opening win over Canada, once again starred for the home team when he helped stretched the game into super over with another vital knock of 36 not out off 26.
Jones hit a six and then a single before Nitish Kumar’s boundary off the final ball tied the score at 159 at the end of regulation.
Pakistan panicked in the super over when experienced fast bowler Mohammad Amir gave away 18 runs that included seven runs off wide balls.
Left-arm fast bowler Saurabh Netravalkar, who earlier bowled brilliantly and grabbed 2-18 off his four overs, conceded only 13 runs in the super over to earn the US its most historic Twenty20 win against Pakistan, the 2022 runner-up and 2009 champion.
Iftikhar Ahmed smashed a boundary off Netravalkar’s second ball, before holing out at long off as the left-arm seamer kept his cool and snatched a famous win for the US.
“It’s a big achievement beating Pakistan and playing for the first time,” captain and player of the match Monank Patel said. “The way we played today I’m really proud of the boys and it was a complete team effort from ball one to the last ball.”
Pakistan captain Babar Azam bemoaned his side’s batting performance.
“We didn’t capitalise with the bat and they took a lot of momentum,” he said. “We lost back-to-back wickets in the middle overs. As a batting unit you need to step up, you need to create partnerships and we didn’t do that.
“Credit to USA, they performed so well today. They were better than us in all aspects of the game.”
AP/Reuters
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