T20 World Cup 2024: Analyzing Pakistan's Shock Loss To USA

Favourites in Group A of the T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan were on Thursday (June 6) stunned by the tournament co-hosts USA via a Super Over at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

Put into bat, Pakistan found it difficult to press the accelerator and were restricted to 159 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs after left-arm spinner Nosthush Kenjige scalped three wickets for 30 runs in his spell.

In response, USA ended on the same score, reaching 159 for 3 with skipper Monank Patel (50 off 38), Aaron Jones (36 not out of 26) and Andries Gous (35 off 26) leading from the front.

In the Super Over bowled by Mohammad Amir, USA piled up 18 runs, eight of which came from extras. Saurabh Netravalkar then kept his cool and bowled brilliantly to give away just 13 runs for a famous win.

Skipper Babar Azam, who scored 44 off 43 balls, has already given reasons for the defeat during the post-match presentation ceremony, when he also credited USA for their all-round dominance on the day.

Babar said Pakistan failed to assess the conditions after being put into bat and blamed the failure in powerplay with both bat and ball cost them dearly in their tournament opener. There are a few more reasons why Pakistan went down and we take a look at them here:

1. Powerplay flop-show: In limited overs cricket, especially in T20s, powerplay is crucial to the outcome of the game most of the time whether it is scoring swiftly with the bat or restricting the scoring with the ball.

Pakistan failed in both as they only managed to score 30 for 3 in the first six overs, their joint fourth lowest powerplay score in T20 World Cups. With the ball, a much-fancied pace attack failed to do any damage, claiming just 1 wicket for 44 runs in the opening 6 overs.

2. Spin a worry: While Pakistan rely on their sheer pace in the bowling department, there will be days when spin also needs to step up, but that did not happen on Thursday (June 6) when USA's spinner claimed 3 wickets.

Shadab Khan (40 off 25 balls) was the lone batter to score at a good strike rate, but the leg-spinning all-rounder could hardly contribute with the ball as he went wicketless, conceding 27 runs in 3 overs. Iftikhar Ahmed also conceded 10 runs in his solitary over.

3. Too many wides: One thing a bowling side can't afford is giving away freebies via extras, and Pakistan gifted plenty in the match, including the super over as Mohammad Amir bowled three wides, resulting in 7 extra runs.

The left-arm quick erred in his line even in the regulation 20 overs as he bowled 3 wides, while Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseen Shah also bowled a couple of wides, totalling to a total of 11 wides compared to USA's 4.

Apart from that, Pakistan will need to address their strike rate issue in the powerplay before they face India in a crucial match on Sunday (June 9) at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York.

Skipper Babar is one of the most reliable players in the batting line up alongside Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman. Azam Khan and Usman Khan, who have been backed over Saim Ayub, have failed to grab opportunities.

Babar may have scored 44, but his close to a run-a-ball innings also hurt Pakistan as they failed to score briskly. However, that issue can be fixed if batters at the other end also provide support.