ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Babar Azam blames his team’s mindset, execution of plans as USA stun Pakistan

The USA caused the first upset of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 when they beat Pakistan in the Super Over at Dallas.

Batting first, Pakistan scored 159/7 in 20 overs and USA ended their innings on the same score, losing just three wickets. In the Super Over, USA batting first, scored 18 runs with Pakistan managing just 13.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam blamed the mindset of his team for the loss and added that they were not up to the mark in executing their plans. “Whenever you come into any tournament, you always do the best preparation. But you can say it’s a kind of mindset, when you come up against a team like this, you relax a little. You take things a little lightly. If you don’t execute your plan against any team, then whatever team it is, they will beat you. I believe that we are not up to the mark in executing. We are doing well in preparation, but in the match, we are not executing our plans as a team,” Babar said after the loss.

USA skipper Monank Patel, who top scored with 50 off 38 balls, lauded his team for keeping their nerves and said that they wanted to finish the game in 20 overs and not go into the Super Over. “I thought we should have finished the game and we should have never gone to Super Over. I mean the way we kept our nerves, in the Super Over particularly, scoring 18 runs gave us a big upper hand to defend the target,” Patel said.

The captain added that he advised his team not to take any pressure and said that being the underdog, the pressure is always on the opponent. “In the huddle, we talked about there’s no pressure for us. All the pressure is there for Pakistan. We knew that we didn’t have enough support from the crowd. Pakistan had more support from the crowd. I thought it will backfire on them, and if we play good cricket, they’ll be more under pressure,” Patel added.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam top-scored for Pakistan with 44, while Shadab Khan chipped in with 40 as they recovered from a precarious 26/3 in the fifth over to finish on 159, losing seven wickets.

For the USA, Nosthush Kenjige was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets for 30 runs.

Chasing 160 to win, Monank anchored the innings while Andries Gous scored 35 in 26 balls. Aaron Jones, the hero of USA’s win over Canada in the tournament opener, remained not out on 36 off 26 balls.

The USA now have won both their group stage matches and sit on the top of the Group A standings with 4 points. Pakistan next meet India on June 9 in New York.