Pakistan took their revenge T20 World Cup 2024 loss against the United States as they cruised to a 32-run victory in Colombo on Tuesday.

Defeated by the USA in a super over in the group stage in their previous meeting in the competition, Pakistan ensured there was never any danger of a repeat this time around.

Sahibzada Farhan scored 73 runs off 41 balls in a brilliant innings which included six fours and five maximums. Farhan’s 81-run third-wicket partnership with Babar Azam (46 off 32 balls) set the stage for Pakistan to reach 190-9 in 20 overs after coming into bat.

Shadab Khan also played a big role in setting up Pakistan who proved an unbeaten target with 30 off 12 balls.

Shadab’s legspin was crucial in Pakistan as USA fell short by 191 runs. He took 2-26 while Usman Tariq claimed 3-27.

With Shayan Jahangir scoring 49 and Shubham Ranjan (51) hitting a half-century for the USA, the underdogs were well positioned for a late surge in the 16th over at 123-3.

But they could only muster 35 for the loss of five more wickets thereafter, with Ranjan running out of partners before being dismissed by Shaheen Shah Afridi in the final over and the game already out of reach.

Pakistan has a 100 percent record in Group AAnd there will be a chance to go through with four wins from four after confirming that their game with India will go ahead.

Pakistan-India will move forward

The Pakistan government ordered the team to boycott the clash with India in Colombo.

The decision was taken out of a desire to “support” Bangladesh, whose request to move their games away from India was rejected. Bangladesh then withdrew from the tournament.

But the stand-off surrounding the game ended on Monday, when the Pakistani government reversed course.

A statement that confirmed its desire for Pakistan to face India read: “This decision has been taken to preserve the spirit of cricket and support the continuity of this global game among all participating nations.”

Pakistan produces clinical performance

Pakistan have not won the T20 World Cup since 2009, although they reached the final in 2022, losing to England.

Wins over the Netherlands and the USA are unlikely to boost their hopes of ending their wait.

But given their humiliation at the hands of Tuesday’s opponents 20 months ago, the manner in which they sent two of the three allied nations to Group A will be particularly pleasing.

Pakistan’s Salman Agha said: “Clinical performance, we started well with the bat and batted really well in the middle.

“When we come in bowling, we have a world-class attack and having scored 190, we knew we could defend it. I would have batted too, if we score 160-170, we know we can defend it.

“We are comfortable chasing, but we try to bat first and put the equalizer up, then try to defend. We have a flexible order, the first three are ready to go and then the finishers can go early, or if we lose wickets we have batsmen who can take the game deeper.

“(There’s) always room for improvement, we want to bowl better in the powerplay, be more clinical. Those are the things we want to improve.”