Pakistan panicked in the super over when much experienced fast bowler Mohammad Amir, preferred over Shaheen Shah Afridi, gave away 18 runs that included seven runs off wide balls as Jones smashed a boundary against the left-arm seamer.
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 U.S. its most historic Twenty20 win against Pakistan, the 2009 champion.
Iftikhar Ahmed smashed 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 U.S.
It’s a big achievement U.S. captain says
“It’s a big achievement, beating Pakistan while playing for the first time (against them),” U.S. captain Monank Patel said. “We used the conditions well (and) kept them to 160, which was chaseable.”
It was a disastrous start for captain Babar Azam’s Pakistan, which is due to meet archrival India on Sunday in New York.
“All credit to the USA who did well in all the three departments and that’s why they won,” Babar said. “We couldn’t capitalize during the first six overs. We took the momentum, but back-to-back wickets hurt us.”