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After thrilling their home crowd on opening night with an electrifying run chase to beat Canada, USA now face-off against one of the subcontinental cricketing giants in Pakistan with their eyes on a potential T20 World Cup upset for the ages.
DATE & TIME: Thursday 6th June, 2024: USA (WST) – 08:30 / USA (CST) – 10:30 / USA (EST) – 11:30 / UK – 16:30 / India – 21:00 / South Africa – 17:30 / Pakistan – 21:00 / Bangladesh – 21:30 / Friday 7th June, 2024: Australia – 01:30
VENUE: Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas, USA
WEATHER: Dry with bright sunshine throughout and light winds as temperatures increase steadily across the day
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: USA – Willow TV / West Indies – ESPN Caribbean / UK – Sky Sports / South Africa – SuperSport / Pakistan – PTV Sports & TEN Sports / India – Star Sports / Bangladesh – Disney Star
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: USA – Willow TV website / West Indies – ESPN Play Caribbean app / UK – Sky Go / South Africa – SuperSport app / Pakistan – Myco & Tamasha / India – Disney+Hotstar / Bangladesh – Disney+Hotstar / Australia – Amazon Prime Video
UNITED STATES FORM: JONES FIREWORKS MADE IT FOUR WINS FROM FIVE FOR USA
United States couldn’t have made a better start to the most important tournament of their cricketing history, not only beating Canada by seven wickets, but doing so through chasing down 195 with an array of monster hitting courtesy of Aaron Jones, who smoked 94 from just 40 balls in the most important innings of his career.
LAST FIVE: WWWLW
PAKISTAN FORM: RAIN-INTERRUPTED PREPERATION LEAVES PAKISTAN POTENTIALLY UNDERCOOKED
Due to bad weather having washed out two of Pakistan’s four scheduled T20i fixtures against England prior to the tournament, Babar Azam’s side have won just two of their last five completed games and will need to significantly improve on those performances in the UK.
LAST FIVE: LALAW
UNITED STATES BETTING ANALYSIS
Understandably after his exploits in United States’ first game, Aaron Jones is the first name under the spotlight for bettors. Focus specifically on his exploits when it comes to clearing the boundary after his ten 6s against Canada. Despite the vastly stronger opposition bowling attack in Pakistan, Jones’ power warrants investment in the ‘Player to Score Most Matches 6s’ market.
It must also be noted the role played by Andries Gous, who struck 65 from 46 balls, underlining his ability batting at number three for USA. Whilst repeating that innings of that length will be difficult, backing Gous to score over 18.5 match runs offers good value.
Plenty of eyes were on Harmeet Singh coming into the tournament and if USA are to pull off an upset here, he’ll need to have a big game with the ball especially. Harmeet could be targeted by the Pakistan batters, which does open up the possibility of wickets should they make mistakes. Consider backing Harmet to accrue 1+ wicket via the ‘Bowler Milestones’ market.
PAKISTAN BETTING ANALYSIS
If Pakistan are to reach the latter stages of the ICC T20 World Cup, their key batters need to fire, especially at the top of the order. One such player is Mohammad Rizwan, whose quality is known to all. Rizwan will want to get his side off to a good start regardless of whether they are setting or chasing a target and should be backed to record over 28.5 match runs.
Captain Babar Azam is another world class asset within Pakistan’s batting line-up and he has the temperament to switch effortlessly between control and aggression, accumulating a big innings in the process. Those bettors looking for a riskier bet with a higher potential return can back Babar to score a fifty in this match.
From a bowling perspective, bettors are spoiled for choice in regards of who to invest in. Haris Rauf is the form player, having taken five match wickets across Pakistan’s two recently completed games against England. Whilst Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets in one of those matches. United States could struggle against Shaheen’s left-arm angle in the powerplay and he, alongside Rauf are worth backing to each gain another 2+ wickets here.
UNITED STATES VS PAKISTAN EXPERT PREDICTION
An exciting encounter awaits as United States’ fearless batters take on the Pakistan bowling speedsters. But it’s important to remember that USA leaked runs against Canada, conceding 194 bowling first. That doesn’t bode well for them when factoring in the class of player they’ll be facing within the Pakistan top order.
Babar Azam has a point to prove and a marker to lay down as captain. This represents an excellent opportunity for Babar to hit the ground running and it would be a surprise if the Pakistan skipper to not accrue at least runs across this fixture, regardless of the final outcome.
UNITED STATES VS PAKISTAN TOP TIP: BABAR AZAM TO SCORE 30+ RUNS