Opener Sahibzada Farhan on Tuesday hit a solid half-century, while spinner Usman Tariq grabbed three wickets as Pakistan downed the US by 32 runs in a T20 World Cup Group A game in Colombo.
The 29-year-old hit five sixes and six fours in his 41-ball 73 and was aided by a brilliant 32-ball 46 by Babar Azam (four fours, one six) to guide Pakistan to 190-9 at Sinhalese Sports Club.
Pakistan’s spinners then checked the inexperienced US batting lineup, with Tariq taking 3-27 and Shadab Khan 2-26 to restrict their opponents to 158-8 in 20 overs.
Photo: AP
The win avenged Pakistan’s shock defeat at the hands of US in the T20 World Cup two years ago and handed them a second win in as many games following their close three-wicket win over the Netherlands on Saturday.
For the US, Shubham Ranjane top-scored with a valiant 30-ball 51, including three sixes and as many fours before he fell to pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was playing his 100th T20 international.
Opener Shayan Jahangir muscled his way to an attractive 34-ball 49 studded with two sixes and five fours, while Milind Kumar scored 29 before US were derailed from 123-3.
“It was a clinical performance as we batted really well to post 190 and we knew we could defend that,” Pakistan captain Salman Agha said. “There is always room for improvement, we’d like to bowl better in the power play before the next game.”
Pakistan’s next game is against archrivals India in Colombo on Sunday, a game only cleared by the Pakistani government on Monday after initially announcing a boycott.
“We were in the game in the power play, but again in the middle overs we couldn’t show intent and lost wickets,” US captain Monank Patel said.
Earlier, Farhan and fellow opener Saim Ayub, who scored a 17-ball 19 with two sixes, put on 54 in five overs.
Pakistan then lost two wickets in the sixth over of their innings, bowled by Shadley van Schalkwyk.
Ayub was caught off a slower one, while Agha holed out on the deep square-leg boundary for 1.
Farhan and Azam took control with an 81-run third-wicket stand as Pakistan cut loose in the middle overs.
Farhan passed 1,000 T20 international runs in his 41st match before he was caught in the covers off spinner Harmeet Singh in the 16th over.
Shadab Khan launched an assault to score 30 off 12 balls, before Pakistan lost five wickets for just 13 runs in the final two overs.
Schalkwyk was the best US bowler with 4-25, following his four-wicket haul against India in the 29-run defeat on Saturday.
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