NEWS
Follow UsThe United States of America (USA) pulled off the biggest victory as they beat Pakistan in a Super Over in Dalls on June 6 (Thursday). The Pakistan skipper took his time initially but, in the end, finished with 44 off 43 to redeem himself to a certain extent. However, cameos from Shadab Khan (40 off 25) and Shaheen Afridi (23 off 16) eventually took Pakistan to 159.
However, there was nothing to write home about as far as the rest of the batting is concerned. The US bowlers too bowled in the right areas and did not allow Pakistan to run away with the match at any point. In reply, a fifty by US skipper Monank Patel and useful contributions from Andries Gous (35) and Aaron Jones (36*) heled the hosts draw level. They needed 15 of the last over from Haris Rauf, but they managed 14, which included a hit to the fence off the final ball to force a tie.
"We are not playing good in all three departments. We are better than that in at bowling, we are not taking wickets in first six overs. In the middle overs, your spinner is not taking wickets, then pressure is on us. And after 10 overs, we will come back. But I think the way they finished the game in the Super Overs, I think credit to the US team," a deflated Babar Azam said at the post-match press conference.
Babar believes losing back-to-back wickets after his partnership with Shadab was the turning point. "First, I will talk about the batting. In the first six overs, the ball was holding and was swinging. But the more partnerships we built, the better for us," Babar noted.
"When Shadab and I started the partnership, we got momentum. I think when we lost the wickets back-to-back, that was the turning point. When you got momentum, you lost it because of losing wickets. It was difficult in the beginning, but we covered it.
"But as a professional, you have to step up against such a performance or such a team in the batting, in the middle order. This is not an excuse that they played well. I think we played badly."
Mohammad Amir was tasked to bowl the Super Over, but the pacer conceded 18 runs to give the US the edge. Saurabh Netravalkar then successfully defended that when his turn came. Babar credited the US batters for being smart and pinching runs whenever possible.
"He is an experienced bowler. He knows how to bowl and we were just trying to, accordingly field the ball, but I think US batsman is a bit smarter when ball coming to the keeper, he is running. So, I think that thing is plus point to that batsman in the Super Over," he said.
Babar says that the plan in the last two overs was to bowl yorkers. While Amir gave away just six in the penultimate over, Haris Rauf missed his mark in the final over on a couple of occasions, which ended up costing his team.
"The plan was simple. We were just trying to bowl yokers. We did not change the plan because the ball was reversing and our bowlers were very accurate with the yorkers. So, our plan was simple, not doing different, just go and use the yorkers," he said.
Pakistan will hope to bounce back after this loss quickly, but it will take work as they take on arch-rivals India in New York on June 9 (Sunday). The US, too, will be up against India next, on June 12 (Wednesday) in New York.
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