Former India player Irrfan Pathan believes that if the United States defeats Pakistan in the 2026 T20 World Cup, it will be considered an upset. He felt the U.S. team hadn’t played much cricket against top teams heading into the tournament.

Team USA will face Pakistan in the 2026 T20 World Cup Group A match in Colombo on Tuesday, February 10. Monank Patel and Co. come into the match on the back of a 29-run loss to India, while the Men in Green had a narrow wicket win over the Netherlands in the tournament opener.

during the interaction geohotstarWhen asked if the United States would win against Pakistan on Tuesday night, Pathan responded in the affirmative. 2026 T20 World Cup The clash will be considered an upset.

“The US team has not played many games against strong teams in Test cricket. So this will be considered an upset. They played incredible cricket in the last World Cup. The game went into the Super Over and Saurabh Netrawalkar bowled very well there. Their bowlers completely stifled Pakistan and didn’t give them a chance to express themselves at all,” he said.

The former India all-rounder highlights that the US team may miss injured players Ali KhanHarmeet Singh is likely to be a key figure in the bowling department against Pakistan.

“There will be many aspects here. Ali Khan is injured. From the US perspective, this is an important aspect. Since you are playing in Sri Lanka, there will be a lot of reliance on Hammett’s bowling. His bowling will be very important,” Pathan observed.

Irrfan Pathan pointed out that how American batsmen play spin is also important because the surface is big and the pitch will help the spinners. He added that the United States could challenge Pakistan if the batsmen can adapt to the conditions.

‘They will be confident of good cricket against India’ – Irfan Pathan on Team USA’s upcoming match against Pakistan in 2026 T20 World Cup

In the same interaction, Irrfan Pathan US spinner Mohammad Mohsin was asked if the confidence he expressed during the pre-match press conference ahead of the match against Pakistan was correct.

“100 per cent, they should be confident too. You come to the World Cup. You should not say that the opposing team is going to come and crush you. They will be confident about the cricket performance against India. The United States will be confident about beating Pakistan in the last World Cup,” he replied.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Pakistan’s nerve-wracking victory over the Netherlands would also boost US confidence.

“Judging from Pakistan’s performance in the last game, the US team will also gain confidence from it because before the last two rounds, it seemed that Pakistan might lose. So Pakistan will be under a lot of pressure. However, as I said before, if the US team plays well, they can put a lot of pressure on the Pakistan team,” Pathan observed.

Pakistan In the 2026 T20 World Cup against Netherlands, the team needed 29 runs in the last two overs and had only 3 wickets in hand. However, Faheem Ashraf scored an unbeaten 29 off 11 balls to guide his side to victory with three balls remaining.