NEW YORK: A combined bowling attack, followed by Mohammad Rizwan’s half-century propelled Pakistan to a must-win victory over Canada in the 22nd match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here on Tuesday.
Set to chase 107, Pakistan amassed the total for the loss of three wickets and 15 balls to spare, courtesy of an anchoring second-wicket partnership between Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Pakistan’s new opening pair of Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan failed to give them a decent start as the left-handed batter perished in the fifth over with just 20 runs on the board.
Ayub scored a scratchy six off 12 deliveries.
Babar then joined Rizwan in the middle and the duo anchored the run chase with a gutsy partnership.
They added 63 runs for the second wicket before Babar fell prey to Dilon Heyliger in the 15th over.
He scored a run-a-ball 33 with the help of one four and a six.
Rizwan partnered briefly with Fakhar Zaman, who scored just four and perished on the second delivery of the 18th over with just three more required.
Usman Khan then hit the winning runs for Pakistan when he guided one towards the midwicket region for a couple.
Mohammad Rizwan remained the top-scorer for Pakistan with an unbeaten 53 off as many deliveries, hitting three boundaries and a six.
Dilon Heyliger led the bowling charge for Canada with 2/18 while Jeremy Gordon made one scalp.
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Sent into bat first, Canada only managed to register 106/7 on the board despite Aaron Johnson’s half-century.
Canada had a briefly flying start to their innings as Johnson smashed Shaheen Afridi for back-to-back fours to kick of the proceedings.
However, the associate nation could not carry on the momentum and lost two wickets in quick succession to slip to 29/1 in 5.1 overs.
Canada kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Aaron Johnson stood his ground firm and kept the scoreboard ticking singlehandedly.
The right-handed opener soon brought up his fighting half-century in a dominant fashion when he smacked Imad Wasim for a six over long-off in the 13th over.
Johnson, however, perished in the next over as he was cleaned up by Naseem Shah’s searing delivery.
Aaron Johnson remained the top-scorer for Canada with a 44-ball 52 which featured four fours and as many sixes.
Canadian captain Saad Bin Zafar then put together a scratchy seventh-wicket partnership with Kaleem Sana before falling victim to Mohammad Amir in the 17th over. He scored 10 off 21 deliveries.
Sana and Dilon Heyliger batted cautiously at the backend and added 19 runs amid their unbeaten eighth-wicket partnership to take Canada past the 100-run mark.
For Pakistan, Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf bagged two wickets each while Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah contributed with a wicket apiece.
The seven-wicket victory propelled Pakistan to third in Group A standings of the T20 World Cup 2024 with two points in three matches while Canada slipped to fourth due to an inferior net run rate.
READ: “Won’t be easy for Pakistan to beat Canada,” says Aakash Chopra