Pakistan’s 2024 T20 World Cup campaign began with a shocking loss to co-hosts the United States of America. The USA pulled off a significant upset thanks to their tenacity as the game went right down to the wire and into the Super Over.
Following the match, seasoned American cricketer Rusty Theron took to X, the platform that was once known as Twitter, to accuse Pakistani pacer Haris Rauf of tampering with the ball. Rauf was attempting to manipulate the ball with his fingernail, according to Theron.
Are we simply going to act as though Pakistan isn’t scrubbing this newly modified ball mercilessly, @ICC? Turning over the ball that was changed two overs ago? Harris Rauf is actually visible dragging his thumb nail across the ball at the top of his mark. Theron tweeted, “@usacricket #PakvsUSA.”
@ICC are we just going to pretend Pakistan aren’t scratching the hell out of this freshly changed ball? Reversing the ball that’s just been changed 2 overs ago? You can literally see Harris Rauf running his thumb nail over the ball at the top of his mark. @usacricket #PakvsUSA
— Rusty Theron (@RustyTheron) June 6, 2024
The USA defeats Pakistan in a historic victory.
Speaking of the USA vs. Pakistan match, on Thursday, June 6, at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, the two teams squared off in the tournament’s eleventh game. After losing the toss, Pakistan elected to bat first to start the match.
With Babar Azam scoring 44 runs in 43 deliveries and Mohammad Rizwan leaving the game after only nine runs, the side got off to a sluggish start. Pakistan amassed 159 runs in the first inning thanks to the 40 runs that Shadab Khan and Shaheen Shah Afridi scored in the middle order. Afridi was undefeated at 23 runs.
Also read: USA captain Monank Patel on T20 World Cup win over Pakistan
Captain Monank Patel was the centre of attention for the team as the USA advanced to pursue the objective. After he hit 50 runs in 38 deliveries, Andries Gous responded with 35 runs, and Aaron Jones added 36 runs to the score as the game finished tied and headed to the Super Over.
After Pakistan could only muster 13 runs in response, the USA won the game by batting first and scoring a total of 18 runs in the Super Over.
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