T20 World Cup: Pakistan lose 3 early wickets as US sends out Green Team to bat – Sport

The Green Team lost three early wickets inside the power play on Thursday in their opening game against the United States in their first game of the ICC T20 World Cup.

Pakistan’s total stood at 93 for three after the end of 12 overs.

Runs dried up for the Green Team after they ended the powerplay with a run rate of exactly five. The loss of wickets resulted in attacking shots from skipper Babar Azam however, to no avail.

Shadab Khan and Babar held the fort until the ninth over before Shadab began to attack the American bowler to try and reverse some of the pressure. Two sixes in the first two balls and a boundary off the last from the 10th over helped Pakistan cross the 60-run mark.

United States captain Monank Patel won the toss and elected to field against Pakistan in a T20 World Cup match in Dallas’ Grand Prairie Stadium.

Co-hosts the US came into this match off a stunning opening-day win over arch-rivals Canada, with this game Pakistan’s first in Group A.

Mohammad Rizwan was dismissed by Saurabh Netravalkar in the first over after Steven Taylor caught a blinder in slips.

Usman Khan was the next to depart after Nosthush Kenjige tossed the ball up who skied it to long off and was caught by Nitish Kumar.

Fakhar Zaman followed next after he scooped a mistimed shot to short third man.

Pakistan’s team included Mohammad Amir, 15 years after the left-arm quick starred as a teenager when they last lifted the T20 World Cup trophy. The 32-year-old, who was jailed for spot-fixing in 2011, only recently came out of international retirement.

Rizwan was also listed as Pakistan’s wicketkeeper after Azam Khan struggled behind the stumps during a 2-0 T20 series loss in England.

Corey Anderson, the former New Zealand all-rounder, was in the US middle order.

Teams:

United States: Steven Taylor, Monank Patel (capt/wkt), Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan

Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wkt), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf

Umpires: Allahuddien Paleker (RSA), Michael Gough (ENG)

TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)