"We should have never gone to Super Over" - USA captain Monank Patel after historic T20 World Cup win over Pakistan

USA captain Monank Patel claimed that his side should have wrapped up their T20 World Cup win against Pakistan even before the Super Over on Thursday, June 6. Patel scored 50 off 38 balls and kept his team's noses ahead while chasing 160.

With 56 needed off 42 balls and as many as nine wickets in hand, USA seemed favorites to win the game comfortably. However, Pakistan came roaring back with a couple of wickets and some tight death-bowling to take the game to the Super Over.

Nevertheless, Monank Patel was thrilled to have 18 runs on the board in the Super Over, and told the host broadcaster after the game:

"When I got out, we were still in the game and I thought we should have finished the game and we should have never gone to Super Over. But the way we kept our nerves and in the Super Over particularly, scoring 18 runs itself gave us a big upper hand to defend the target."

Pakistan's poor fielding and ill-disciplined bowling in the Super Over also played its part in USA scoring 18 runs. Only 11 of those came from the bat and the rest were a combination of wides and misfields.

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Monank Patel on USA's plan while defending 18 in Super Over

Ali Khan was the designated death bowler for the USA for a while and many believed he would be the one to bowl the Super Over. Instead, it was left-arm pacer Saurabh Netravalkar who was entrusted to get the job done in the Super Over.

While it did raise a few eyebrows, Monank Patel explained the rationale behind that move.

"The plan was we wanted to make sure that we utilise the conditions. And the condition was a left-arm bowler bowling cutters and wide yorkers with left-arm over angle going out. Ali Khan usually attacks the stumps, but we wanted to make sure that we make them play outside off stump. And for a left-armer, the angle helps. Saurabh had had a good day, and I backed him," he said in the same interview.

After brilliant figures of 2/18 in his four overs in the game, Natravalkar repaid the faith shown by Patel as he conceded just 13 runs in the Super Over and helped USA script a historic win against Pakistan.

With two wins from two games, the USA can probably start to dream of reaching the Super 8 stage.