T20 WC: "Looking forward to competing against big teams...": USA vice captain Aaron after team's historic Super Eights qualification

Florida [US], June 15 (ANI): Following his side's qualification to the Super Eight stage of the ICC T20 World Cup, USA batter and vice-captain Aaron Jones expressed that the team is looking forward to competing against more top Test cricket nations. 

The USA qualified for the Super Eights stage of the tournament after their match against Ireland was washed out due to rain and both teams shared a point each. With two wins, a loss, and a no result, the US secured five points in total and ended in second place. Their result also meant that Pakistan, another team in contention for the Super Eights, was knocked out of the competition. 

Speaking to the media after the game was washed out, Jones said, "Definitely looking forward to the challenge for sure. Over the last couple of weeks, we've shown that obviously we could definitely compete and beat some of the full member nations. So definitely looking forward to playing against them for sure."

Jones said that qualifying for the final eight is a big thing for the team since they were talking about playing the World Cup and against full-member nations for the last two years and now they have made a big jump in their debut World Cup. 

"Not only for us right now in the moment but I think we will qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup as well so I think it is a big thing for us, which is really good for us and not only for us but for the fans around America as well. We really appreciate them for sure and not only for the fans but for the younger generation in America as well, which is really good," he added. 

Jones said that even though the team qualified for the Super Eights, they came to the field wanting to have a game of cricket and did not want to leave home without playing. 

"That is for me personally, I want to play. But at the end of the day, the rain... it is nothing that we can control. So we are grateful that we got to the Super Eights. But we left the hotel this morning thinking about playing cricket, we wanted to play cricket," he added. 

Jones said that not many people pay attention to US cricket and are not aware of the talent the team has. 

"I think that could be a little advantage to us, but definitely, I think that on any given day, once we play proper cricket, we believe that we can beat any team in the world for sure," he added. 

United States Squad: Shayan Jahangir, Steven Taylor, Andries Gous(w), Aaron Jones(c), Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan, Nosthush Kenjige, Monank Patel, Nisarg Patel, Milind Kumar. (ANI)