Rahul Dravid hooked to USA vs Pakistan nail-biter inside New York subway ahead of India’s Sunday blockbuster, pic viral

The win caused emphatic scenes all around USA and Dallas. People present at the famous Times Square erupted in joy, while the Pakistan crowd were left red-faced. In between all the pandemonium, India head coach Rahul Dravid was spotted in the subway, where he was keenly following the USA vs Pakistan game on his phone and didn’t take his eyes off it until the last ball was bowled and the famous victory achieved. The picture, which shows The Wall calmly following the proceedings, has gone viral on social media since.

Irrespective of the result, Dravid would have taken footnotes from the game. India face Pakistan next on Sunday, followed by the USA three days later on June 12, and if there is one thing the T20 format has taught, it’s not to take any team lightly. Pakistan are an ODI and T20 World Cup-winning side, and for them to have gotten beaten hands down by a team that’s still finding its feet at this level is a rude wake-up call.

How the match progressed

Something seemed off about Pakistan from the word go. They were reduced to 26/3 with Netravalkar, Nosthush Kenjige and Ali Khan wreaking havoc inside the Powerplay. Babar Azam’s 44 off 43 balls was the only valuable contribution from the top order before Shadab Khan’s 40 off 25 balls lifted Pakistan to 159/7. In reply, USA lost opener Steven Taylor for 12, but a solid 66-run partnership between captain Monak Patel and Andries Gous had them on track to chase down the target.

Aaron Jones and Nitish Kumar then came together and forged an unbeaten partnership of 49 to push the match into the Super Over, where USA eventually triumphed. This was the fifth tied match in the history of the T20 World Cup, with Pakistan featuring in two – the first was the famous bowl-out in 2007 against India. Interestingly, USA are leading the points table in Group A with 2 wins from 2 matches.

“It’s a big achievement – beating Pakistan while playing for the first time. Complete performance. We used the conditions well. Kept them to 160, which was chaseable. Happy with my contribution, happier to have won,” USA skipper Patel said.

“Winning the toss, way we bowled in first six was where we won. We took wickets, did well till the 12th over. Shadab, Babar took chances, we knew they will. We knew it was a chaseable score and needed a good partnership from top-three. We got the game in our hand as me and Gous played till the 12th over. Playing in the WC, you don’t get a chance to do it every year. Knew we had to be fully committed every single ball against Pakistan. It was a complete effort from the team.”