The pain on Shoaib Akhtar‘s face mirrored the entire nation of Pakistan as the 2009 T20 World Cup champions were dealt a body blow by the United States of America during their Group A match in Dallas on Thursday. After the match went into the Super Over with both teams finishing on identical scores of 159, Saurabh Netravalkar of Indian-origin defended 19 to guide USA to an epic five-run win.
“Very disappointing loss for Pakistan,” said Akhtar in a short video, expressing his shock and dismay. “Didn’t offer good start. Losing to USA… we created [unwanted] history like we did against Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup. Unfortunately, Pakistan never deserved to win. Reason why USA played extremely well. They were in a commanding position. Amir saved the match. He and Shaheen tried. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull it off.”
The former speedster lamented that Babar Azam and his team once again became part of an unwanted piece of history 25 years after Pakistan’s 1999 World Cup defeat against Bangladesh, a game Akhtar himself was a part of.
Akhtar wasn’t the only one saddened by the result. Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal lashed out at Babar and his men, calling the outcome an insult. “The biggest insult for Pakistan cricket is losing the game in the Super Over. There can’t be a bigger insult than this. The USA played exceptionally well. They didn’t feel like a low-ranked side. It felt like they were ranked above Pakistan. That is the level of maturity they showed,” Akmal said on his YouTube channel.
The T20 World Cup, during its previous eight editions, has witnessed a fair share of upsets but none quite as shocking as this. Results such as Zimbabwe defeating Australia in 2007 and the Netherlands beating England in 2009 have their own place in history, but the fact that an associate team managed to defeat two-time World Cup winners ranks right up in the list of biggest cricketing upsets of all time, let alone in World Cups.
This is the second consecutive T20 World Cup in which Pakistan has been defeated by a lower-ranked team. Two years ago, they suffered a narrow one-run defeat from Zimbabwe in the group stage, and even though Pakistan recovered brilliantly to reach the final, it was a painful experience nonetheless. However, that seems like a much better result now in retrospect, given the polar opposite cricket history in Zimbabwe and the USA.
The defeat to USA has landed Pakistan’s T20 World Cup campaign in turmoil. Their next game is against tournament favourites India, whom they defeated in the 2021 T20 World Cup but have lost to twice since – once in the 2022 Asia Cup and then during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Melbourne. After the blockbuster clash against India, Pakistan’s next opponents are Canada, followed by a game against Ireland, a team they lost to in a T20I just last month.
Haris Rauf Accused of Ball Tampering
Adding to Pakistan’s woes, fast bowler Haris Rauf was accused of ball tampering by former South Africa cricketer and member of the USA cricket team Rusty Theron during the match at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. Theron’s shocking post came before Pakistan’s humiliating loss against the co-hosts in a Group A match that was decided via Super Over.
Theron accused Haris of scratching the freshly-changed ball with his fingernail, which he reckoned, led to the reverse swing. “Moments after the dismissal, Theron took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to bring to ICC’s attention as he accused Haris of scratching the freshly-changed ball with his fingernail, which he reckoned, led to the reverse swing.
He tweeted: “@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 Haris Rauf running his thumbnail over the ball at the top of his mark. @usacricket #PakvsUSA.”
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