The USA team, comprising mainly professionals who play cricket as a second pursuit behind other full-time occupations, went through to the Super Eight round of their first T20 World Cup appearance after their game with Ireland was rained off. By virtue of this, former champions Pakistan were virtually eliminated from the tournament.
As India did, but in this instance after winning their opening two matches against Canada and highly-fancied Pakistan, the rain cancelation of their final group fixture meant progress was still intact, whereas Pakistan, for all their promised victory over Ireland, couldn't HAVE more than four points.
Earlier in the day, India resurrected Pakistani hopes of staying alive in this tournament by restricting Pakistan to 120 runs after limiting themselves to 124 as Pakistan fell short in a closely fought match in New York. The unexpected loss through the Super Over against the USA in the first game in Dallas put them on the brink, to begin with. For Pakistan, the late burst in global events that has been their pattern through the years just proved evasive this time around.
Part of ICC's drive to strengthen cricket's foothold in the United States-where it competes with established favourites like NFL, MLB, and NBA for the loyalty of lovers of sports-the USA shared hosting rights for this tournament with the West Indies. Encouraging results for the home team-holding India at bay and then beating Canada and Pakistan-are drawing the attention of American.
Actually, the revival of the USA's fortunes in the game began with the morale-boosting T20I series victory over Bangladesh prior to the event. The team, comprising a number of cricketers of Indian origin on temporary H1-B visas, will look to revive a game that has deep historical roots in the US, with the first international game played in New York way back in 1844.
Indeed, Friday's game in Lauderhill, Florida was always going to be abandoned as the rain was extremely bad and defeat would have eliminated all hope of Super Eight qualification for the USA. But inspired by these good performances and feisty displays when pushed to the wall by teams ranked higher in the ICC ladder, the USA camp is hugely enthusiastic about their chances in this competition.
