Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra slammed Mohammad Amir’s Super Over after Pakistan was shocked by the USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas on Thursday. Pakistan posted 159-7 after they were put into bat by Monank Patel whereas the hosts achieved the same score in their 20 overs.
Babar Azam surprisingly backed Mohammad Amir in the Super Over but the left-arm seamer conceded 18 runs against Aaron Jones and Harmeet Singh. Amir conceded seven runs in extras (after bowling three wide balls with four byes) in the Super Over as he could not get his line right. Furthermore, Mohammad Rizwan was clumsy behind the stumps and it led to Pakistan’s downfall.
“I felt USA might get stuck because such games don’t go to a Super Over. You should win very easily. You reached 159 with only three wickets down and a tactical error (sending Nitish Kumar ahead of Corey Anderson) had already happened. So you feel it might not happen now,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“However, that wasn’t the case. Mohammad Amir came to bowl and there were seven extras. All seven were not due to wides, but extras because Rizwan was missing the ball behind the wickets. They (USA) kept running. Extremely sloppy bowling and extremely sloppy fielding, and 18 runs were scored,” the former India opener added.
The renowned commentator noted that Amir could not deliver despite having all the experience under his belt.
“Conceding 18 runs in the Super Over is way too much. It was unbelievable that so many runs were scored despite Mohammad Amir’s experience. When 18 were scored, I remembered Ravi Shastri, their hearts were in their mouths,” he observed.
The former Delhi player lauded the USA for coming up with a fine show in the Super Over as the hosts kept their calm.
“Iftikhar Ahmed was sent and Shadab Khan also came later. The first ball was a dot ball. Then Iftikhar hit a four for sure. However, after that, he lost his wicket. Milind Kumar took a very good catch running forward. Shadab Khan hit a four (leg-byes). Luck was in his favor slightly,” he said in the same video.
“Saurabh Netravalkar, who used to play for India under-19, also bowled one or two wides. So in the Super Over, both Amir and Netravalkar bowled wides but in the end, seven were required off the last ball, which means a six would have given another tie. However, they didn’t get that tie. USA pulled off an absolute blinder,” Chopra added.
Pakistan will next take on arch-rivals India at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York on Sunday.
