FLORIDA: A combined bowling effort, followed by Babar Azam’s unbeaten knock led Pakistan to beat Ireland by three wickets in the 36th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here at Central Broward Regional Park on Sunday.
Set to chase 107, Pakistan amassed 111/7 with seven balls to spare.
Pakistan had a shaky start to the pursuit as Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan could add 23 runs amid the first wicket partnership as Mark Adair got rid of the former in the fifth over.
Ayub scored a run-a-ball 17 with the help of two fours and a six.
Rizwan was quick to follow Ayub as he perished in the next over after scoring 17 off 16 deliveries.
Following the back-to-back blows, Fakhar Zaman (5) joined skipper Babar Azam briefly and the two added 13 runs for the third wicket until the left-hander fell prey to Curtis Campher in the ninth over.
Pakistan then lost three more wickets in quick succession and thus slipped to 62/6 in 11 overs.
Babar Azam was then joined by Abbas Afridi when Pakistan needed 45 off 54.
Abbas and Babar batted cautiously and brought Pakistan in touching distance with a crucial 33-run stand that lasted with the former’s dismissal in the 18th over. Abbas scored a gutsy 17 off 21 balls.
Shaheen Shah Afridi then took the game away from a blistering cameo and sealed Pakistan’s consolation with a six. He made an unbeaten 13 off just five balls.
Babar Azam remained the top-scorer for Pakistan with a 34-ball 32 with the help of two boundaries.
Barry McCarthy was the pick of the bowlers for Ireland with three wickets, followed by Curtis Campher, who took two. Whereas, Ben White and Mark Adair made one scalp each.
Sent into bat first, Ireland managed to utilize full 20 overs and registered a decent total on the board, which seemed out of reach after the batting powerplay.
Ireland had a disastrous start to their innings as Pakistan’s new-ball bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Amir ran through their top order with successive strikes, leaving them reeling at 32/5 in six overs.
Right-arm pacer Haris Rauf continued the momentum as he picked up a wicket in his first over to add further to Ireland’s misery.
Ireland were in heaps of trouble being 32/6 in 6.3 overs.
However, Gareth Delany, who came out to bat at No.7, launched an astounding recovery for the European side with a gutsy knock.
He put together a one-sided partnership with Mark Adair. The seventh-wicket stand yielded 44 runs in just five overs before Imad Wasim provided Pakistan a much-needed breakthrough with Delany’s demise.
Delany remained the top-scorer for Ireland with 19-ball 31, which featured one four and three sixes.
Ireland lost two more quick wickets and were consequently slipped to 80/9 in 14 overs.
But their batting tail retaliated against a strong Pakistan bowling attack and batted through the allotted overs.
Josh Little added valuable runs for Ireland at the backend with an unbeaten 22 off 18 deliveries while Ben White scored a 20-ball five.
Imad Wasim and Shaheen Shah Afridi bagged three wickets each for Pakistan, followed by Mohammad Amir with two while Haris Rauf picked one.
It is pertinent to mention that both Pakistan and Ireland are out of the Super 8s race of the T20 World Cup 2024 after the crucial Group A fixture between Ireland and the USA was abandoned without a ball bowled at the same venue on Thursday.
READ: England advance to Super 8s as Australia avoid Scotland scar
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