Pakistan will start their campaign during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America (USA), against the US team on June 06, at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, and former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez feels this is the best chance for them to beat the co-host side.
The Men in Green had a couple of successful outings during the last two seasons of the tournament. In 2021, they finished in the semi-final stage at the Dubai International Stadium against Australia, before finishing as the runners-up to England in 2022 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Pakistan decided to prepare for the ninth edition of the competition, in the two series against England and Ireland, rather than playing a few warm-up games.
‘This is the only place where we can beat the US’ – Mohammad Hafeez
The former Pakistan opening batter Mohammad Hafeez talked about the opening game of the side against the US, who are coming into this encounter on the back of their seven-wicket victory in the opening game of the tournament at the same ground against Canada.
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Pakistan had a humiliating series loss against New Zealand at the start of the year, where they lost the series by a 4-1 margin. At home, when the Blackcaps sent their second string side, it was expected for the home side to have a cakewalk during the series, but they had to accept the 2-2 drawn series.
This will be the first time both these teams will take on each other in this format of the game. In the last five encounters for the 2009 champions, they have two wins, both of which came against Ireland, while on the other hand, the USA were coming into the tournament thanks to their 2-1 series victory over Bangladesh.
The Pakistan side is yet to play as a team in this part of the world, and given they have no practice games under their belt in these conditions. Skipper Babar Azam has backed the experienced players like Shadab Khan and Haris Rauf to use their experience of playing the Major League Cricket (MLC) to earn success on these strips.
The USA captain Monank Patel, however, feels that if they can look to put attention on their own strength of being fearless in their approach and going with an aggressive mindset over the opponents, then they could easily get the result they are after.
The member of the 2009-champion side, Mohammad Hafeez highlighted why Pakistan are ahead in the contest against US. In a short video clip that he shared on X (formerly known as Twitter), the right-handed batter was discussing the game with former Pakistan captain Younis Khan and New Zealand batter Martin Guptill.
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“I will only say for the Pakistan team, as a Pakistani, that this is the only place where we can beat the US,” Mohammad Hafeez responded when one of the two female anchors asked him about Pakistan’s chances in their opening encounter.
The whole panel broke into a laughter at the veteran’s funny response. After this game, Pakistan will travel to the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium for their high-voltage game on June 09, against India.