USA T20 cricket upset of Pakistan explained: Everything you need to know about historic World Cup win

LONDON — Welcome to the big leagues America. We have admired your focus on football, your openness about some rugby matches, your offer of the world's largest arena for darts. However, we never really thought cricket was for you.

You proved us right. What happened on Thursday could well be your finest hour in sports which most of the country was completely unaware of. Beat Pakistan in the T20 Cricket World Cup in Dallas? That's like Miracle on Ice, but the US didn't even wear skates. If you need more context, the US beating Pakistan in a major cricket tournament looks a lot like Pakistan winning the World Cup. Honestly, in any kind of football you care to name.

It was a very deserved victory. The US bowlers gave their batters a real chance against the 2009 champions, Alabama-born Nostush Kenjige taking three wickets, while the two for Saurabh Netravalkar, who moved to the US to study for his Masters in Computer Engineering, was an impressive reached economic pace. Oh yeah, we have to explain what that means.

First things first: the basics of cricket

For those of you who don't understand cricket very well, which in America is true for pretty much everyone, where do we start? Perhaps with a comparison to enrage fans of two bat and ball sports in one. Imagine baseball, but you hold the bat differently and everyone is very particular about the shape of the other person's armto throwbowl the ball to you. When you hit the ball, instead of running around a diamond, you want to run back and forth across a 70-foot field. And do you see those three tree stumps, with two smaller pieces of wood in between? That's the wicket. Don't let the ball run into that. Or, ideally, hit you, especially if you're in the way of the wicket. Cricket balls are hard and then there is LBW (which stands for “Leg Before Wicket”). Oh god, you're never going to get that. Pretend I didn't bring it up.

When you have hit the ball, run to the other wicket, 22 yards away, pass your teammate who will be taking the next shot and make sure you get back into the safe zone (also called the crease) before the other team has thrown the ball near the wickets. You're going to do that a lot. In a T20 match like the one the US just won, a decent score could be over 150 runs. If you want to speed up the running process, try hitting the ball past the boundary rope that marks the end of the field (in baseball there is a wall, in cricket there is a rope, just accept it and move on). If you do that with the ball hitting the turf beforehand, you can help yourself to four runs. Clean the rope in a snap and that's six for you.

You have 10 outs (also called wickets) to play with before you have to stop batting. Your opponent can get you out by, to make it very simple, bowling the ball at the wickets, hitting your body with a ball that would otherwise have hit the wicket, catching your shot before it bounces, hitting the wickets when you are out of reach. fold and a few other examples that, to be honest, won't come up often enough to be worth mentioning. Once you have tried to hit, the other team can do the same. Do they refuse to let this be done? That's just not cricket.

Then there is time. In the past, cricket matches – which in their longest form involved two innings for each team – could simply last as long as it took for one team to get twenty wickets and win the game, or until the other team had to leave. at home and a draw was declared. The last timeless Test match was played in 1939, since then the longest form of the top game has lasted five days. Modern attention spans being what they are, in 1971 cricket experimented with games that could be completed in a day.

In 2003, that process was further streamlined with the introduction of Twenty20 cricket, the razzmatazzy, fast-paced cousin of the traditional game. Think more fours and sixes, commercial breaks masquerading as strategic timeouts, players being called by their nicknames. It's the kind perfectly suited to faster sporting events, including the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where cricket is making its return after 124 years in exile. Each team would have 20 overs (a collection of six deliveries) to score as many runs as possible. The team with the most runs wins. Simple.

Need more details? Probably. We have not even begun to consider the vague spirit of cricket in which this game is to be played. Centuries-old sports that are deeply rooted in the culture of your country do not lend themselves to spicy explanations in a few paragraphs. Look at that Bluey episode about cricket. That should help. Like all the best games, cricket is deceptively easy to follow if you just follow along, but it poses a lifetime of devilish complexities for those who dive in.

So what happened on Thursday?

The US started the match by winning the toss (oh dear, there's something else I forgot to explain) and asking Pakistan to be the team to bat first. Against a line-up full of big stars – Mohamed Rizwan and Babar Azam rank third and fourth best hitters in men's T20 cricket – the US were excellent, lively in the field and direct with their bowling. Pakistan, finalists at the last World Cup, were limited to a below-par 159.

The US target is well within the reach of the best international sides and for most of the innings it looked like captain Monank Patel had got the 160-run chase all but correct. However, Pakistan's bowlers slowed the US's advance to such an extent that it took a four from Nitish Kumar's last ball to send the match to something called a Super Over. Because what would a sporting event in the US be without overtime?

In a manner all too familiar to cricket fans around the world, Pakistan subsequently lost its cool in the biggest moments. Three wides (oops, forgot something, when the bowler delivers a ball beyond the batsman's reach) from Amir, misfielding by his teammates and a thunderous four from Jones gave the US an impressive 18 runs from the six balls from which they existed. the Super Over. Their visitors were rarely within arm's reach and when Shadab Khan failed to hit Netravalkar's final ball six times (think the highest value shot in cricket), the US shouted in shocked jubilation that was not shared by a crowd mainly from Pakistan. followers.

“We knew we weren't getting any support from the crowd,” Patel said. “Pakistan was getting more support from the crowds and I thought it would backfire on them – they would be under more pressure.”

If you are one of those for whom the extremely patiently explained previous paragraphs still seemed completely incomprehensible, a brief explanation. America won and defeated one of the greatest cricketing nations in a tournament match for the first time in their history.

What next for American cricket?

This could be the start of something very funny for cricket in America, which is involved in organizing this T20 World Cup with the West Indies. After all, Thursday's game wasn't even the first win of the tournament for the Stars and Stripes, who scored 197 points against Canada at Grand Prairie Stadium and emerged victorious in the final skirmish of the longest running rivalry in international cricket.Two games, two wins. The US might now have more wins at a T20 World Cup at home than this summer's Copa America, the premier event for another US team looking for validation from its counterparts around the world.

It would be perhaps the biggest shock in the history of sports if the US beat India, the sport's economic and cultural juggernaut, on Wednesday in New York, but they may not need a win there to achieve something remarkable. Beat Ireland two days later in Lauderhill, Florida, and Patel's side would be in an excellent position to reach the Super Eight, the round in which the top cricketing nations face off. It's not inconceivable that the US could do just that: they beat full Test member (one of the good teams) Ireland on that same ground in December 2021 and have clearly grown in quality in recent years, evidenced by two wins against Bangladesh (still a good team) last month.

Could this be the start of a beautiful love affair? One can only dream. CBS Sports' first cricket correspondent – summers at Lords, winters in Antigua and Australia – where can I sign up?