Two wins in two matches. Pakistan are on a winning streak ahead of February 15, when they face India in the third group match. Ahead of the important match, captain Salman Ali Aga looked at some of the key points from today’s (February 10) match.
Pakistan easily defeated the United States team by 32 runs. In the last game, they struggled against the Netherlands due to poor batting performance. The victory over the United States came as the result of a team game. Agha and his team dominated in all departments throughout the match.
Pakistan captain is not happy with his batting
During the post-match presentation ceremony, Salman Ali Aga said that they could have got another win, but they would have improved their batting more. However, the captain appreciated the bowling efforts.
The Pakistani captain said, “We got the job done, but we needed to bat better in the middle overs. The bowlers did well. We have not batted at our best yet.”
It was a surprise for the fans when Pakistan came out to bat first. Due to dew, in most cases the teams decide to bowl first. But Aga and his team had different ideas.
“We are Pakistan, we do things differently from the world (regarding the desire to bat first). We are also comfortable chasing the target. Our batting order is flexible,” he stressed.
PAK vs USA match summary
Batting first, the Men in Green scored 190 runs for 9 wickets in 20 overs. The team got the most runs from Sahibzada Farhan, who scored 73 runs in 41 balls with the help of eleven fours, which included six fours and five sixes.
Babar Azam was the second highest run scorer in the first innings with 40 runs and Shadab Khan played a quick-fire 30 runs. The rest of the batsmen failed to perform as per expectations. It is understandable why Agha told about the preparations for batting.
As against Pakistan’s 190 runs, the United States cricket team could only score 158 runs for 8 wickets in the limited 20 overs. They remained very busy in the match because of Shubham Ranjane (51), Shayan Jahangir (49) and Milind Kumar (29). It was star pacer Shaheen Afridi who was crucial along with Ranjane and they immediately pushed USA back. Ranjane’s wicket proved fatal for the team batting second, as the rest of their batting lineup remained mostly quiet.
We are ready for any challenge: Aga
“Shaheen (Afridi) is a match-winner. His batting has improved. Abrar (Ahmed) has been fantastic. He is someone who is getting us back into games,” the captain said.
Two consecutive wins should definitely boost the team’s morale ahead of the next fixture, which is against India. Without naming any team, Agha claimed that they are ready for any challenge ahead.
“We are ready for any challenge. If we play good cricket we can be good against any team,” Agha said.
Salman Ali Aga specifically mentioned Afridi and Ahmed, but it was Usman Tariq who took 3 wickets in 4 overs and two wickets for Shadab Khan. Afridi, Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz got one wicket each.
read more:We never changed our preparation: Team India’s reaction after Pakistan’s U-turn on World Cup match
