USA vs Pakistan. (Source – Getty Images)
The United States of America (USA) caused an upset as they defeated Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024. The Babar Azam-led side was the favourite against the associate nation but they never played as one of the big boys in the cricketing world. Batting first, they lost three wickets in the powerplay and couldn’t do much in the remaining overs and posted 159 runs in the first innings.
The USA were ahead in the race most of the time but struggled towards the end as the match moved to Super Over. Mohammad Amir leaked 18 runs in the over and in return, the visitors could make 13 runs. With that, USA registered a massive victory and moved to number one in Group A. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s defeat have put them in a tight spot. Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that the Men in Green have hit rock bottom and also lauded USA for their impressive win against one of the tournament’s favourites.
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“So early to reach such a peak as far as international cricket is concerned, winning this game. You have got one team like USA reaching Mt. Everest while Pakistan have really hit rock bottom. I have not seen a worse performance from Pakistan. This is not just about the defeat. The review, the Super Over from Mohammad Amir, the misfields when the pressure was on. It hurts me to see this because when I played against Pakistan they were world champions, they have hit rock bottom now,” Manjrekar was quoted as saying by India Today.
Really lost respect for Pakistan: Manjrekar
Skipper Babar Azam made 44 runs off 43 balls which needs to be inspected. His strike rate looks concerning and that might bother the team for the rest of the tournament. Meanwhile, the other batters failed to step up. Shadab Khan looked decent and Shaheen Shah Afridi smacked well towards the end, helping the team post 159 runs, else that too looked difficult at one stage.
Reflecting upon that, Manjrekar stated that the Pakistan cricketers looked like club-level players and added that he had lost respect for them.
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“They have seen a few dips over the years. Pakistan being upset is actually a story in itself. India does not feature even once in the list of upsets in the T20 World Cup 2024. The quality of cricket that Pakistan have played today, they looked like club-level players. Their batters at the top of the order gave far too much respect, they thought that 150 was a good enough score and that is why Babar Azam played the way he played. And that is where I really lost respect for Pakistan,” Manjkrekar concluded.