United States Pulls Off Huge Upset of Powerhouse Pakistan in T20 Cricket World Cup

Patrick Andres | Jun 6, 2024

Mar 18, 2020; Tampa Bay, Florida, USA; General view of a bald eagle flying past the American flag as the Tampa Bay Downs is closed to the public at Tampa Bay Downs. / Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

In the United States, cricket is largely an afterthought. The sport once had some cache here, but gradually gave way to baseball two centuries ago as America's bat-and-ball game of choice.

In Pakistan—as in other South Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan—cricket is something approaching a secular religion. This is, after all, a nation that elected a cricketer (legendary all-rounder Imran Khan) prime minister in 2018.

It was to the great shock of the sports world, then, that the United States defeated Pakistan in a super over Thursday at the men's T20 World Cup in Dallas (a super over is a tiebreaking mechanism not dissimilar from extra innings in baseball).

A STUNNER AT THE ICC MEN’S T20 CRICKET WORLD CUP!

The USA has upset international powerhouse Pakistan 😮 pic.twitter.com/eh0jUA7ojW

— ESPN (@espn) June 6, 2024

Captain and wicket-keeper Monank Patel was the United States's leading scorer with 50 runs. A disastrous showing from Pakistan bowler Mohammad Amir allowed the United States to score 18 runs in the super over.

The United States is now 2-0 in the Twenty20 tournament—the men's World Cup for the shortest form of international cricket—after defeating Canada by seven wickets Saturday. Next up for the Americans is another international powerhouse Wednesday: India in New York.