Pakistan dominate USA to make it two in two
Pakistan buried the ghosts of 2024 to record an impressive 32-run victory over USA in their T20 World Cup match on Tuesday (February 10) at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo after overcoming their shortcomings against Netherlands in the tournament's opening match.
Pakistan capitalized on opener Sahibzada Farhan's quick start after being asked to bat first to get off to a quick start in the PowerPlay on what appeared to be a good batting deck. Saurabh Netravalkar struggled again while debutant Ehsan Adil - facing his country of birth - also couldn't make incisions early on. Even as he unleashed a Calypso-style pull behind square for a six against Netravalkar, Saim Ayub's pace was significantly lower than that of Farhan.
Shadley van Schalkwyk made the breakthrough, continuing where he left off against India. The right-arm seamer had Ayub caught at short third man before removing Salman Ali Agha off the final ball of the PowerPlay. That moved Babar Azam to the middle, and Babar struggled to gain enough momentum in the beginning of his innings while Farhan continued to move at a solid pace to score a fifty off 27 balls. Consequently, he was only able to swipe for a single with one hand and also failed to capitalize on a free hit.
After a brief time when the United States used the choke, Pakistan took control in the thirteenth over. And it was Babar who switched gears, tearing into left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh for a six and two fours. Although he soon picked out Milind Kumar at long on off leg-spinner Mohammad Mohsin, he continued to block the bad balls. In the same over, wicketkeeper Andries Gous missed a straightforward opportunity to save Mohammad Nawaz's life while Milind held on to the catch while diving forward.
While the final overs yielded many wickets, Shadab Khan's blistering 12-ball 30, during which he scored a hat-trick of boundaries off Adil, ensured that Pakistan reached 190. Farhan left in the following over in an effort to increase the score. As Pakistan attempted to up the ante, as many as five wickets were lost in the final few overs. Van Schalkwyk returned 4/25, which is the same as his performance against India.
Shayan Jahangir, who was playing his first game of the tournament, scored a six and a four off Saim Ayub in the second over to get USA off to a good start. As Salman Agha held onto a skier, Gous missed a shot from Mohammad Nawaz just as he was starting to pick up some speed. With a spin-heavy attack tightening the screws, skipper Monank Patel was unable to gain any momentum and eventually left for a difficult 10-ball 3.
The asking rate skyrocketed after USA managed just 18 runs in four overs from 50/1 at the conclusion of the PowerPlay. Shadab Khan took his second wicket of the evening when Jahangir holed out to long on, missing a half-century by one run. Usman Tariq, playing his first match of the tournament, proved nagging to put away as he slowed the pace considerably - and quite literally so, as he unleashed his full bag of tricks to keep the batters quiet. Despite Milind Kumar's best efforts to middle the ball, Shubham Ranjane was able to keep the odd ball out, but Milind Kumar was only able to reach 11 off 15 balls and was unable to keep the ball out.
Milind caught up with a couple of boundaries and a six but soon spooned a catch to short third man, following which Abrar Ahmed made a mess of Sanjay Krishnamurthi's furniture with a quicker one. Ranjane whacked Shaheen Afridi for consecutive sixes to begin the 18th over, despite the fact that the asking rate was now over 20 per over. However, in the penultimate over, Tariq completed a hat trick by keeping Ranjane off strike and closing the door on USA.
Ranjane's fifty, which he duly raised with a lofted extra cover drive in the final over before Afridi yorked him LBW, was the only thing left to tick off. Pakistan bowled spinners in 16 of their 20 overs, a strategy that paid off as they won comfortably to move to the top of Group A.
