USA batter Aaron Jones made the cricket world stand still and take notice of his talent in the T20 World Cup match against Canada. Aaron made history as the co-hosts pulled off the third-most successful run-chase in the tournament’s history and the marquee batter re-wrote several record books with his explosive 94* in 40 balls. As the cricket world lauded the USA batter, an old tweet of his on MS Dhoni also went viral on social media.
In 2012, Jones had taken to the social media platform, now X, and wrote: “I never knew that Dhoni doesn’t have a T20 50…”.
I never knew that dhoni doesn’t have a T20 50…
— Aaron Jones (@Macca_Jones) December 22, 2012
Dhoni decided to retire from the game a few years later, and by then, he had scored two half-centuries in the shortest format of the game against India. His highest in T20Is is 52.
As for the match against Canada, Aaron, with the help of an explosive 94-run knock, enabled USA to kick-off their ICC T20 World Cup on a high with a seven-wicket win. Aaron’s knock had four boundaries and 10 sixes, with the runs coming at a strike rate of 235.00.
USA chased down 195 runs, the third-highest successful run chase in the tournament’s history, with South Africa’s chase of 206 against West Indies (T20 World Cup 2007) and England’s 230 run chase against South Africa in the 2016 edition being the second and highest most successful chases respectively.
Also, after the West Indies legend Chris Gayle (11 sixes versus England in 2016 and 10 sixes against South Africa in 2007), Jones is only the second player to have hit 10 or more sixes in a T20 World Cup inning.
The partnership of 131 runs between Jones and Andries Gous in 55 balls had a run-rate of 14.29 per over, the highest run-rate for a century partnership in the tournament’s history.
This partnership is also the highest fourth-wicket or below stand in tournament history, outdoing Wanindu Hasaranga and Kusal Mendis‘s 123-run partnership against Ireland in the 2021 edition at UAE, which was also for the fourth wicket.
The score of 197/3 by the USA is also the highest total by an associate member of ICC in T20 WC history. An associate member does not enjoy the status of a Test cricketing nation.
With ANI Inputs
