America has long been a country where cricket has yearned for air. The gentleman’s game was never given much thought in a country that loves baseball, basketball, the NFL, and WWE Superstars and skips a beat for them. That is, until the International Cricket Council (ICC) brought the T20 World Cup to the United States. With cricket gaining traction—and how!—2024 will undoubtedly usher in a transformation in the history of the most powerful nation on earth.

India and Pakistan were inevitably placed in the same group when the ICC announced the T20 World Cup 2024 schedule a few months ago. However, what about the other players—Canada, Ireland, and the United States? To be honest, no one gave a damn!

However, once the tournament began, events began to unfold as they were predicted to. The USA, who were playing in their first T20 World Cup as co-hosts, seemed to be the most unexpected squad. They started their campaign with a triumph, successfully chasing down 195 against Canada. They next defeated Pakistan in a historic victory that ultimately led to the 2009 champions’ demise.

USA against SA ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Super 8s: Preview of the Match, Weather Report, Likely Starting Lineups, Head-to-Head and More

For the USA Cricket team, it was a new day as they went from being totally written off to making it to the Super 8. However, this is only the start. While the athletes are pleased with their accomplishments, they understand that more work remains.

Josh is on the rise!
USA bowler Nosthush Kenjige said in an exclusive interview with News18 CricketNext, “The josh is high.” We played a few excellent games in the World Cup, and I believe even the qualifier games were really nice. We played a series against Canada after having a successful preparatory series with Bangladesh, which gave us the momentum and assurance we needed.

We just carried the same level of confidence into the World Cup, and as a result, we needed two or three solid victories. The moment is opportune for the masses to rise up. When it was time to assume responsibility, they did so. And I believe that contributed to our success,” he said.

The middle-order batsman, Nitish Kumar, said that a couple more victories are necessary to advance in the competition.

Nitish told CricketNext, “We’re happy, but we know that we could probably get a couple more wins and see what happens.”

“I just watched South Africa on TV; I never played against them.”
On Wednesday in Antigua, the USA will play South Africa in the Super 8 tournament. According to Kenjige, the crew is eager to take on the task.

Yes, I believe that on the 19th, we will play South Africa. Thus, it will provide a problem. We haven’t previously played them. You always anticipate taking on such thrilling tasks, I guess. Although we’ve seen them on TV, you want to put yourself in their shoes and test your mettle against them. They are excellent players.

Thus, I anticipate that we will have an entertaining game. All we have to do is support one another and play brave cricket. We are not expected to win. And it remained the same even when the World Cup got underway. Thus, we have nothing to lose by going forward and expressing ourselves as we have been,” he said.

“We’re Going to Fight Just This One Day.”
In the Super 8, the USA will take on South Africa, the West Indies, and the reigning champions, England. Kenjige is taking the overall picture into consideration and is striving to win each game by taking it one at a time rather than singling out any side as the hardest opponent.

“This will only be a one-time event. So, it makes no difference whether a team wins 10 times out of 10. We are going to battle and we are going to make sure that we win on this one day only. Thus, it’s thrilling. Every team, um, brings its own style and flare to the game each day. Thus, I’m simply excited to play them one at a time,” Kenjige said.

Nitish expressed his teammates’ feelings when he stated that from now on, it would be one game at a time and that in order for the USA to get to the semifinals, it must play its best game against its opponents.

Yes, I’m ecstatic. We haven’t really played against South Africa, I believe. We did quite a bit in the West Indies. As a child in North America, you have the opportunity to play against them. After that, I spent seven years living and attending school in England.

Thus, it’s rather thrilling to take on them. However, all that matters is that we play as well as we can and see what we can accomplish. It’s a singular game. We have to play a practice match against every side to find out,” Nitish said.