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Pakistan vs United States of America, 12th Match, Group A, ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

Pakistan won by 32 runs
PAK
190/9(20)
USA
158/8(20)
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Two straight wins for Pakistan who will be feeling good about themselves as they go into the big clash against India. The win against Netherlands was a nervy one but there was nothing nervy about this performance today. They like batting first, as admitted by captain Salman Agha, and then leave it upto their strong bowling attack to defend. Four genuine spinners in their ranks, all very different from each other and they came to the party today. USA were good in parts but never really threatened at any stage. That's all from this game. We'll be back tomorrow for more. Goodbye!
Salman Agha | Pakistan captain: I always smile. When have you seen me not smile? (laughs). Clinical win. Last game we didn't bat well in the middle overs, but today we did. Once we scored 190, we knew we could defend that. I would've batted first after winning the toss. With the kind of bowling we have, we know we can win even with 160-170. We are Pakistan, we do things differently to the world (about wanting to bat first). We're comfortable with chasing as well. Our batting order is flexible. First three will probably go in the same order but we're flexible after that. We have finishers who can go early if we don't get too many wickets at first. But if you get early wickets, we still have a batter who can go and obviously take the game to the deep and then allow the finishers to come and finish the game as well. Always room for improvement. We like to bowl well in powerplay. In patches we were good, but we can be more clinical.
Monank Patel | USA captain: We bowled decent in the powerplay but didn't bowl well in the middle overs. Came back in the last four overs where the pacers bowled well. We were still in the game with 190. Played well in the powerplay but couldn't show intent in the middle overs. While batting we didn't show intent. Their spinners were not giving enough pace and it was hard to hit the boundary options. We panicked a bit and that cost us the game. We've been playing really good cricket since the last 12-15 months. Coming here for the second game, we were confident enough. Just small mistakes in the game. Want to make sure we finish this World Cup strong with two wins. It's not easy playing at different venues. Now we'll go to Chennai. We'll have one session there. Will work hard to come back stronger.
Sahibzada Farhan | Player of the Match: The way we practiced yesterday, the ball was coming onto my bat really well in the nets. I had already told our batting coach (Hanif Malik) yesterday that I was getting a good feeling for today’s match. I was confident. I even said, I will finish the match in a way that earns me the Player of the Match award. I’ve set a personal target for myself, to win at least two to three Player of the Match awards in this World Cup. I felt this pitch was much better. The ball was coming nicely onto the bat. As openers, the role for me and Saim Ayub is always to utilize the powerplay properly. I naturally play an attacking brand of cricket. Ayub got the start today but was a bit unlucky. My thinking was to continue playing my natural game because in T20 cricket, as an opener, you have to play that way. That’s the role given to us by the captain, to keep the attack on in the first six overs. We’ll go in with the same mindset as we did in our previous matches against India, including the Asia Cup. We’ll try to stay positive and play attacking cricket.
Most overs of spin in a T20I innings (Pakistan)
18 vs Aus Colombo RPS 2012
16 vs USA Colombo SSC 2026 *
15 vs SA Colombo RPS 2012
15 vs WI Kingstown 2013
15 vs Eng Manchester 2021
15 vs Afg Hangzhou 2023
22:29 Local Time, 16:59 GMT, 22:29 IST: Spinners have done the job for Pakistan here in Colombo. They went in with five of them today, replacing Salman Mirza with Usman Tariq, and they came to the party to derail USA's chase. Their total of 190 was a formidable one to begin with, led by the efforts of Sahibzada Farhan who scored 73 off just 41 balls. But the pitch was a good one and USA started well in the powerplay. However, once Shadab came into the attack and started applying the squeeze along with Nawaz, the run chase came to a stall. In the six overs after the powerplay, USA managed just 29 while losing two wickets. It was the phase where the game was decided and while Ranjane batted well for his fifty later on, the win was out of sight by then.
20
4 0 W 1 1 0 (6 runs)
USA 158-8
Ehsan Adil
1(2)
Shadley van Schalkwyk
1(2)
Shaheen Afridi
4-0-42-1
19.6
Shaheen Afridi to Ehsan Adil, no run, in the blockhole outside off, Adil goes hard but can only squeeze it down the pitch. Solid win for Pakistan as they beat USA by 32 runs!
19.5
Shaheen Afridi to Shadley van Schalkwyk, 1 run, misses the yorker, it's a low full toss on off and Shadley van Schalkwyk hits it on the bounce to mid-off. Again the direct hit would've resulted in a wicket
19.4
Shaheen Afridi to Ehsan Adil, 1 run, low full toss on leg, Adil clears the front leg and drives to extra cover. Direct hit would've had him
Ehsan Adil, right handed bat, comes to the crease
19.3
W
Shaheen Afridi to Shubham Ranjane, out Lbw!! Plumb in front and up goes the finger. He takes the review anyway. Knows he's out and is walking off but the review was there so why not take it. Cracking yorker from over the wicket, Ranjane hangs back and is pinned in front of off and middle. Three reds on ball-tracking and that's the end of him. Shubham Ranjane lbw b Shaheen Afridi 51(30) [4s-3 6s-3]
Shaheen Afridi to Shubham Ranjane, THATS OUT!! Lbw!!
Plumb in front and up goes the finger. He takes the review anyway. Knows he's out and is walking off but the review was there so why not take it.
19.2
Shaheen Afridi to Shubham Ranjane, no run, full toss wide of off, he reaches out and slaps it to sweeper cover, doesn't take the single
19.1
F
Shaheen Afridi to Shubham Ranjane, FOUR, low full toss wide of off, Ranjane reaches out and carves it over extra cover. Thumps his chest in celebration as he brings up fifty
19
1 1 1 W W 0 (3 runs)
USA 152-7
Shadley van Schalkwyk
0(1)
Shubham Ranjane
47(27)
Usman Tariq
4-0-27-3
18.6
Usman Tariq to Shadley van Schalkwyk, no run, googly outside off, Shadley van Schalkwyk swings and misses, no hattrick for Tariq but a superb outing anyway
Shadley van Schalkwyk, left handed bat, comes to the crease
18.5
W
Usman Tariq to Mohammad Mohsin, out Bowled!! The pause from Tariq allows him to watch the movement from the batter and react accordingly. Mohsin had stepped a long way across the stumps, exposing all three behind him. Tariq sees this, fires it full and angles it in to get him bowled behind his legs. Crashes into the base of leg stump and away he goes to take a bow in celebration. Captain Agha mimics his celebration as well. Mohammad Mohsin b Usman Tariq 0(1)
Usman Tariq to Mohammad Mohsin, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
Mohammad Mohsin, left handed bat, comes to the crease