After the United States recorded a historic victory over Pakistan, Al Jazeera lists the five biggest upsets in the tournament's history.
The United States pulled off one of the biggest upsets in cricket history by beating Pakistan in their T20 World Cup 2024 encounter in Dallas.
The victory, which came in a super over after the scores were tied after the regulation 20 overs, sent shockwaves through the cricket world and led many pundits to believe that cricket could finally take off in the land of baseball.
Here are the five biggest upsets, in order of importance, in the 17-year history of the T20 World Cup:
1. United States beat Pakistan: 2024
The co-hosts had never played Pakistan in any format of the game before Thursday's match. The United States, 12 places behind the 2009 champions, came into the game building on their victory over Canada in their first match of the tournament. Pakistan entered the tournament after a series loss against England.
Despite the contrasting forms, not many experts would have predicted that a team of recently turned professional cricketers would turn around one of cricket's powerhouses.
The US team is made up of cricketers who played in India, Pakistan, the West Indies, South Africa and New Zealand until a few years ago. The country's cricket infrastructure is not among the best, and the International Cricket Council itself is organizing the World Cup in the United States.
None of that had any bearing on the calm, professional demeanor of Team USA's players when they made a splash in Dallas to kick off America's biggest cricket bash.
2. Netherlands beat England: 2009
The first (and only) T20 World Cup opened at the home of cricket, Lord's Cricket Ground in London, with hosts England taking on the so-called minnows, the Netherlands.
All seemed to be going well for England when they posted a score of 163, which was considered well above average in the early days of T20 cricket, and Holland lost their first wicket in the first over. However, the Dutch consolidated in the middle overs and a 60-run partnership between Tom de Grooth and Peter Borren gave them a famous victory under the gray evening sky at Lord's.
3. Nepal beat Afghanistan: 2014
Nepal was making its debut in the T20 World Cup and had already recorded a victory over Hong Kong. However, Afghanistan were a team on the rise with several members of the team playing cricket leagues around the world.
Players like Mohammad Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi and Asghar Afghan were in the playing eleven that was dismissed nine runs short of the target set by Paras Khadka's Nepal.
4. Namibia beat Sri Lanka: 2022
While Namibia had been present in the associate cricket circuit for many years, for them to beat the 2014 T20 champions and the 1996 50-over World Cup winners was a paltry feat.
The Africans recorded a total of 163 matches and then produced an impressive bowling display to rock Sri Lanka. The island nation were bowled out for 108 in 19 overs to kick off Namibia's celebrations.
5. Afghanistan beat West Indies: 2016
The West Indies came into the 2016 tournament as one of the favourites, with T20 stars Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Daren Sammy in their line-up.
Samuel Badree abandoned his bowling attack as they restricted Afghanistan to 123, but the Afghan spinners had their own plans. Rashid Khan and Nabi took two wickets each to rock 2012 as Afghanistan completed a famous six-wicket victory.
The West Indies lifted the trophy a few days later, making Afghanistan's feat even more incredible.
