How ‘calm’ USA came up clutch to shock Pakistan

Aaron Jones continued his fine form to help the side rack up 18 runs in a Super Over that saw the pressure truly tell on a Pakistan side who made a string of errors, both with the ball and in the field to gift the hosts almost half of those runs.

And USA’s clear-thinking was on display again when they went away from their biggest bowling star with the ball, giving their Super Over to Saurabh Netravalkar, who stuck to the plan superbly.

“I mean the plan was to make sure we utilised the conditions, and left-arm bowlers bowling cutters and wide yorkers with the angle going out, it helped.

“Ali Khan, usually he hits the stumps, and we wanted to make sure we made them play outside the off stump and a left-armer helps with that. Saurabh had a good day and I backed him to do the job, that’s why we made that decision.”

Perfect plans and near-flawless execution leaves USA sitting top of Group A after two games, and this high-quality outfit have plenty of time to draw up their next match strategy, with their follow-up game not until Wednesday June 12 against India in New York.