The Pakistan cricket team showed they are a force to be reckoned with as they defeated the USA by 32 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo on Tuesday evening in a Group A T20 World Cup match.
The USA won the toss and elected to field first. Pakistan choose to bat first and set a competitive score of 190 for 9 in their 20 overs. The Pakistani openers started quickly, with plenty of runs scored by players in the middle order. Along with an innings of 73 runs from Sahibzada Farhan (5 sixes) and an innings of 46 runs from Babar Azam, which provided a solid base for Pakistan’s innings.
Upon beginning their innings, the USA started well and looked well set to chase down the total. However, Pakistan began to exert pressure through the middle overs. USA struggled to keep up with the required run rate and began to lose regular wickets. The spin department played a crucial role in slowing down the USA’s run rate and taking regular wickets. Usman Tariq took 3 wickets while Shadab Khan took some important wickets during the USA’s innings.
The USA ended their innings with a score of 158 for 8 runs to finish their innings off and were unable to match the target set by Pakistan, in no small part due to the fighting performance of Shubham Ranjane, who scored 51 runs.
Farhan’s 73 runs gained him the Player of the Match award and has kept Pakistan’s winning momentum going early in the tournament and have moved to the top of the Group A points table, while the USA will be looking to bounce back in their next game.
