Produced by: Tarun Mishra
Pakistan will kick off their World Cup campaign against a confident USA side in Dallas on Thursday. The Babar Azam-led team aims to move past the recent captaincy controversy and focus on the tournament.
Pakistan enters this match in poor form, having lost a T20 series to England 0-2, with their top players' performances under scrutiny. Meanwhile, the USA has started the tournament strong and will be playing on the same pitch where they dominated Canada in the opening game.
The pitch for the night game between the USA and Canada was a high-scoring one, but the day game between the Netherlands and Nepal was far from a batting paradise. With the USA vs. Pakistan match also being a day game, batters will have to work hard for every run.
AccuWeather predicts a rain-free match day, with temperatures ranging between 32 and 35 degrees Celsius. Humidity levels are anticipated to surpass 75 percent.
Steven Taylor, Monank Patel(w/c), Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Corey Anderson, Nitish Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Ali Khan, Saurabh Netravalkar, Milind Kumar, Nosthush Kenjige, Nisarg Patel, Shayan Jahangir
Keep an eye on Aaron Jones, who made a splash with a gritty 94 against Canada, hitting 10 sixes—the second-most in a T20 World Cup match, just behind Chris Gayle's 11 against England in Mumbai in 2016.
Babar Azam(c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Usman Khan, Abrar Ahmed
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been Pakistan's key duo in previous T20 World Cups, notably leading a 10-wicket victory against India in 2021. However, their recent struggles with strike rates and acceleration have become a concern.
As per Google's win probability, Pakistan is favoured with a 89% chance of defeating USA in the Match 11 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.