US choose fielding against Pakistan after winning toss

The T20 World Cup 2024 hosts chose to field first against Pakistan after winning the toss in the 11th match of the global event being played at Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas on Thursday.

After the toss, USA skipper Monak Patel defended his decision of bowling first saying that chasing is easier and they did the same in their previous match against Canada.

“Chasing here is easier,” said USA captain Monak Patel at the toss as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo. “The way we chased down total was entertaining. Have momentum, want to continue that. Excited for this challenge.”

Playing XIs

USA: Steven Taylor, Monank Patel (capt, wk), Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan

Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf

Pakistan is the only team to have reached the semi-final of T20 World Cup six times (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2021 and 2022).

This is Pakistan’s first match of the World Cup while the USA began their T20 World Cup campaign with an emphatic win over Canada where they chased down the 195-run target in just 17.4 overs with Aaron Jones starring for the home side.

The confidence in the USA camp is high and their captain will once again bank on his team’s ability to play aggressive cricket. On the other hand, Pakistan are eager to start their campaign on a positive note with a win as the Green Shirts are eyeing their first T20 World Cup win since 2009.

Remember, this is Babar Azam third T20 World Cup with Pakistan as a captain and under his captaincy, the Green Shirts managed to make it to the semi-final in 2021 and final in 2022 where they lost to Australia and England respectively.