Pakistan defeated Ireland by three wickets in their last match of the T20 World Cup 2024 which was played at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida on Sunday.
The low-scoring encounter was decided in the second last over with Shaheen Afridi taking Pakistan over the line and helping them end their disappointing T20 World Cup campaign with a six.
Chasing the 107-run target, Pakistan, despite a decent start, made things difficult for them as they kept on losing wickets. Saim Ayub (17 off 17), and Mohammad Rizwan (17 off 16) lost their wickets inside the first six overs.
Pakistan’s middle-order failed once again as Fakhar Zaman (5), Usman Khan (2), Shadab Khan (0) and Imad Wasim (4) all failed to score in double digits.
Abbas Afridi gave Pakistan a breakthrough as he hit a six and a four during his 17-run innings which helped Babar Azam’s side come close to the target.
Skipper Babar Azam top-scored for the winning side with 32 runs.
Earlier in the first innings, a dominating display by the Pakistani bowlers made things difficult for the Irish side as Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, and Imad Wasim all starred with the ball.
Shaheen started the innings for Pakistan brilliantly as he removed Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker in the first over, leaving Ireland 2-2.
Amir continued what Shaheen started and sent Irish skipper Paul Stirling back to the pavilion for just one run.
Pakistan bowlers continued their dominance and kept sending the opponents’ batters back to the pavilion. It looked like Ireland would be all out before even scoring 60 runs as a team but George Dockrell and Gareth Delany’s 44-run partnership helped them reach a decent total.
Delany top-scored for the struggling Irish side with his quick 19-ball 31 which included four boundaries. Joshua Little's contributed 22 runs on 18 balls with three boundaries.
Ireland concluded their innings at 106/9 in 20 overs. For Pakistan, Shaheen and Imad bagged three wickets each, Amir got two while Haris Rauf managed to remove one Irish batter.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: 1 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 2 Saim Ayub 3 Babar Azam (capt) 4 Fakhar Zaman 5 Usman Khan 6 Shadab Khan 7 Imad Wasim 8 Shaheen Afridi 9 Abbas Afridi 10 Haris Rauf 11 Mohammad Amir
Ireland: 1 Andy Balbirnie 2 Paul Stirling (capt) 3 Lorcan Tucker (wk) 4 Harry Tector 5 Curtis Campher 6 George Dockrell 7 Gareth Delany 8 Mark Adair 9 Barry McCarthy 10 Josh Little 11 Ben White
