🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026:M12: USA vs Pak, Colombo 🏏 - Page 3

As mentioned, it's the dawn (sunset?) of a new era at the SSC, with the first official T20 to be played under lights. There's a feeling that might help the ball nip around - something Salman Mirza referenced yesterday - and that may play into selection. USA are expecting to have Shubham Ranjane available, despite hurting his knee in their opener, but Ali Khan won't be fit for this one.

USA win the toss and bowl, "looks like a good batting track and consistent breeze," Monank Patel says, "once we know the target it will be easier to chase down."

Teams:

Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(c), Babar Azam, Usman Khan(w), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed

United States of America (Playing XI): Andries Gous(w), Shayan Jahangir, Monank Patel(c), Milind Kumar, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shubham Ranjane, Harmeet Singh, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Ehsan Adil, Saurabh Netravalkar

Monank Patel: We’re going to bowl first. Looks like a good batting track and there’s a consistent breeze here, so once we know the target, it will be easy for us to chase it down. We have two changes. Ali Khan is still injured, so Adil comes in place of him. Sai misses out and Jahangir comes in. I think we played a lot of good cricket. There were a lot of positives from that game. One thing we discussed is that when we want to win against good teams, it’s important that we do well with both bat and ball. So the focus will be doing well in both departments in this game. We had a great game. First time playing against Pakistan, and the way we played was great to see. Everyone gave their effort, and we want to take confidence and motivation from that game and do well today.

Salman Ali Agha: We’ve got one change. Usman Tariq is playing. Salman Mirza is unfortunately missing out. We wanted to give Usman a game. I think he’s a match-winner and a trump card for us, so we want to use him. I think we all know there are things we need to improve. We’ve sat down and talked about that, and I’m hoping we’ll be much better today. We’ve been playing really good cricket over the last few months, and we just want to continue playing good cricket every single day.

Anurag Uniyal: "I'm sure no one is treating this as a routine, one sided- Associate vs Full Member contest. USA put hot favourites India under serious pressure in their opening fixture, and the Netherlands would've beaten Pakistan but for Faheem's late heroics. Pakistan must be feeling the heat with all the offfield uncertainties and the fact that they've lost to USA in this format the last time they played them. This has all the ingredients of a thriller, and if USA win tonight, it won't be an UPSET."

Thanks Alan. The Star Spangled Banner rings out around Colombo... I wonder if Trump has an eye on a live stream in the Oval Office?. Pakistan's anthem follows, and it's nearly that time. The US players huddle on the outfield. Farhan and Ayub are on their way out to the middle.

RK: "I always feel the best chance for any associate team to win against a full member team is to bat first. At least a decent score on board and they can play on the pressure."

Saurabh Netravalkar, who had a rough time of it against India, has the new ball in his hand from the Tennis Court End. Slip in.

Why this thread is not in front

Why they r allowing them to score so many 6s🤦‍♀️