In a crucial ICC T20 World Cup match, USA’s Nitish Kumar played a role in securing a win against Pakistan. As one of the best cricket teams worldwide, Kumar spoke about his decisive boundary in the last ball that earned a Super Over against 2009 T20 World Cup Champs.
During what was an extremely tight Group A game, Kumar scored 14 runs off 14 balls at no time when Pakistani pace attack dominated. A last-ball four by him sent the crowd into raptures in Dallas to ensure a Super Over situation.
Having beaten Pakistan, United States now step up to play against India at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. Born in Canada with Indian roots, Kumar praised the Indian team and remarked on the professional commitment shared by both sides towards cricket.
“My brother and dad have been to India… I love it…I love all the players there i think they all are amazing…some of the world’s top players we look up to them … But we got a job and they got a job to do,” said Nitish while speaking to ANI.
With fifteen runs needed for victory during the final moments of the match, Kumar showed great calmness by hitting Haris Rauf’s last ball four thus taking the game into Super Over.
Reflecting on his performance and outcome of the match, Kumar frankly conceded that he initially doubted his batting but underlined team requirements as more important.
Nitish said “To be very honest there was no confidence. The first 10 balls I played weren’t very good. All that mattered at that moment was that I needed that boundary and had to make it happen… Wasn’t impressed with the way I batted It’s all about getting through for us. It’s about doing whatever our team needs to do.”
The participation of USA and its hosting of T20 World Cup is therefore seen as another landmark for cricket development across this traditionally non-cricketing nation.
“It’s a very big victory for us as a team. We came out with our goal. We executed well, there were bits of bumps on the way but we finished it off. That’s what we wanted. We want to go to the next round, we know that we are good enough,” he added.
At the close of play, USA set a target of 18 runs in the Super Over which Pakistan could not surpass managing just 13 runs.
