Meeting the United States of America (USA) for the first time in the shortest format of the game on Thursday, Babar Azam's Pakistan suffered a rare batting collapse inside the opening powerplay in Dallas. Kickstarting their ICC T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against an in-form USA side, Babar and Co. lost three wickets in the first six overs after USA skipper Monank Patel won the toss and elected to bowl in match No.11 at the Grand Prairie Stadium.

Commenting on the curtain-raiser of the 2009 world champions, legendary Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis summed up the batting no-show of the Green Army on air. “Pakistan are losing the plot, USA all over Pakistan now,” the former Pakistan skipper said during the live telecast of the T20 World Cup encounter.

Younis' remark arrived after power-hitter Fakhar Zaman mistimed his shot to hand USA's Ali Khan his first wicket of the contest. While Zaman perished for 11 off 7 balls, Usman Khan (3) and superstar Mohammad Rizwan (9) recorded forgetful outings as USA bowlers dominated the powerplay against Pakistan.

USA dominate powerplay in Pakistan's T20 World Cup opener

Opening the innings with Babar for the 2022 World Cup runners-up against the co-hosts, wicketkeeper-batter Rizwan scored nine runs in the first over. However, Rizwan received his marching orders in the next over as Steven Taylor plucked a stunning catch to hand Saurabh Netravalkar his first wicket. Netravalkar, Nosthush Kenjige and Khan bagged three wickets each to restrict Pakistan to 26-3 in 4.4 overs.

What is Pakistan's lowest powerplay score?

At the end of the powerplay, Babar guided Pakistan to 30-3 in the low-scoring encounter. Pakistan ended up recording its fifth-lowest score in the powerplay at the T20 World Cup. Pakistan scored only 13 in the first six overs against the West Indies at Mirpur - the lowest powerplay score of the 2009 champions in the history of the T20 World Cup.

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