USA determined to play ‘fearless cricket’ against India and Pakistan
Jones and Andries Gous added a supersonic 131 off 58 for the third wicket to notch up a memorable win at the Grand Prairie Stadium in front of a vibrant home crowd. The USA reached the target with 14 balls to spare.
Aaron Jones smashed a scintillating 94 not out off 40 to power the USA to a historic win over Canada in a high-scoring T20 World Cup 2024 opener in Dallas on Sunday and their captain Monank Patel said their aggressive approach won't change even when they face bigger teams like India and Pakistan.
Jones and Andries Gous added a supersonic 131 off 58 for the third wicket to notch up a memorable win at the Grand Prairie Stadium in front of a vibrant home crowd. The USA reached the target with 14 balls to spare.
On vice-captain Jones' contribution and the win, Patel said, "The way we have been playing against Canada in previous series...I thought it was a whole team effort. Gous and Jones handled the pressure situation, and took the game out of Canada. As soon as we bowled, the ball was coming well. We bowled well in patches, but we gave 10–15 runs extra."
Patel was happy to see spectators turn up in large numbers. "Happy to see the numbers. They were really energetic and hope they continue to support us. We want to continue the way we are playing," he said.
"Don't want to change our fearless cricket whether we play Pakistan or India," he concluded.
In the post-match press conference, Player of the Match Jones also shared the same sentiment.
"I don't think our plans are going to change much to be honest. We want to play fearless cricket. We want to play hard cricket. We want to play smart cricket and I think we're going to go into the Pakistan game with the same mindset. We want to play fearless cricket regardless of who we play against," Jones stated.