The T20 World Cup 2024 was not a memorable tournament for Babar Azam and his men as they suffered the humiliation of failing to make it out of a group that included the likes of India, the USA, Canada, and Ireland. With only two teams making it into the Super 8 stage, the USA pipped Pakistan to the second spot in Group A after recording a memorable victory over the Men in Green in Dallas.
Pakistan-born USA cricketer Ali Khan recalled the famous victory during the T20 World Cup and made a bold claim that if the USA are at full strength, they can beat not just Pakistan but any team on their day.
In their first group stage game, Pakistan faced off against the USA who had already defeated Canada. The Monank Patel-led side restricted Babar Azam and his men to a score of 159/7 before scoring 159 themselves to tie the score.
The match subsequently went to a Super Over as the USA scored 19 runs before restricting Pakistan to a score of 13 runs, prevailing by 5 runs for a historic upset.
In a recent interview with Pak Passion, Ali Khan recalled that the minnows were not under any pressure of sorts, and that helped them inflict the giant killing on Babar Azam's men.
"We weren't under pressure, they were. We knew we were capable of beating them," said Ali Khan.
"We beat Pakistan in all four departments, including fitness," the right-arm fast bowler stated further.
Ali Khan "no disrespect to Pakistan but we are capable of beating them again" #Cricketpic.twitter.com/aMAcaniCFA
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) September 10, 2024
After losing to USA, and then to India, Pakistan's hopes to reaching the Super 8 relied on other results and they were eliminated in the group stage itself with USA qualifying in second place.
Ali Khan said that the USA are very much capable of beating Pakistan yet again if they get a chance to play against the Men in Green again.
"We are capable enough of beating them (Pakistan) again. No disrespect to them, but I think we are a really good side, if we have a full strength squad we can beat any team on our day, not just Pakistan but it will be a great game of we play them again," Ali Khan added.
Pakistan haven't had the best time since the T20 World Cup as they lost the two-match Test series at home against Bangladesh recently leading to further embarrassment for the Men in Green.