The USA captain Monank Patel said it was a complete team effort after they stunned Pakistan by five runs in the Super Over win at the Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas on Thursday. The hosts did a brilliant job with the ball as they restricted the opposition to 159-7 after Patel won the toss.
The American bowlers were right on the money, picking three wickets in the Powerplay overs to put Pakistan under the cosh. Pakistan meandered to 30-3 in the first six overs as they failed to find any kind of impetus in their batting innings.
Nosthush Kenjige returned with impressive figures of 3-30 in his quota of four overs whereas Saurabh Netravalkar, the Oracle IT engineer, bagged 2-18 in his four-over spell.
On the other hand, Monank Patel led from the front as he scored 50 off 38 balls in the run-chase whereas Andries Gous and Aaron Jones scored 35 and 36 runs respectively off 26 balls each.
In the Super Over, USA scored 18 runs, with Aaron Jones scoring 11 runs whereas Saurabh Netravalkar was able defend it as he kept his calm.
Monank Patel said in the post-match presentation, “It is a big achievement, beating Pakistan and that too playing (them) for the first time. It was a complete team effort. We won the toss and we made sure we utilised the conditions well, we did really well to keep them under 160. I am happy with my contribution and more happy that we won the game. We spoke about the top three contributing and happy that myself and Gous could do that. The plan was to play proper shots and he (Gous) took the pressure off me. Happy to get the two points. As a batter and player you want to show off in the big games and I am happy that my knock came in a winning cause.”
Patel hailed the team’s bowling performance for keeping Pakistan to under-par score.
He added, “Winning the toss and the way we bowled in the first 6 overs, we took wickets and kept them quiet. We knew they will take chances after their partnership. We knew we were in the game with 160 to chase, just needed a partnership. Playing in a World Cup, you don’t get a chance to do it every year. We were fully committed every single ball.”
USA will next take on India at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York on Wednesday.
