USA Cricket stuns Pakistan in World Cup T20 upset

On Thursday, Team USA pulled off a stunning upset in cricket, defeating Pakistan — a cricket powerhouse — by five runs. The win took place in the group stage of the T20 World Cup, a tournament of the 20 best qualifying cricket teams in the world.

This year's T20 World Cup is USA Cricket's first time qualifying after receiving an automatic bid for hosting. The 2024 T20 tournament is jointly hosted by the U.S. and the West Indies. Thursday's upset, played near Dallas, puts the U.S. at the top of Group A, which also includes India, Canada and Ireland.

The win took place after a tense super over, a tie-breaking method in cricket similar to a penalty shootout. The U.S. finished the super over with 18 runs, meaning that Pakistan needed 19 to win; however, Team USA held on and Pakistan ended with 13 runs, giving the Americans the historic win.

The home win is a particularly big deal for Team USA given that cricket is largely not a popular sport in the U.S. Most American cricket players don't play the sport full time: One of the heroes of the game, pace bowler Saurabh Netravalkar, works full time at software company Oracle. Oracle even took to social media after the game to congratulate their engineer for his success.

This win may mark a turning point for the sport in the U.S. By making such a big splash in its first World Cup, USA Cricket can only go up from here.

The U.S. next faces India, another formidable opponent in cricket, on Wednesday for the next group stage match.