Pakistan and Ireland will play their last group game of the T20 World Cup 2024 against each other on Sunday in Florida and vye to end their campaign on high note.
Pakistan have won only one game in the T20 World Cup against Canada and lost their first two games against the USA and India.
Their first match against the USA ended in a super over win for the USA as Pakistan had posted a target of 160 runs and could not defend it as the USA scored 159 and took the game to a super over where they scored 18 runs. Pakistan couldn’t score the 19-run target and lost the match by six runs.
They were surprisingly better in the bowling department against India as they restricted them to 119 runs. They then could not score 120 runs and fell seven runs short of the total.
Pakistan’s next game was against Canada where they restricted Canada on 106. Cautious batting on Pakistan’s side took the game to 17.3 over but Pakistan managed to win.
As for Ireland, they are yet to win a game in the T20 World Cup 2024. They played their first game against India and posted a target of 97 runs which the Indian batters chased easily in the 12.2 overs at the loss of two wickets.
Their next game was against the Canadian team which they lost. They failed to achieve a total of 138 as they fell 13 runs short of the target. Ireland’s third game was against the USA on June 14 which was washed out due to rain.
Pakistan needed Ireland to win against the USA to improve their Super 8 qualification chances.
Pitch condition
The pitch at this ground behaves well for better however under current weather conditions in Florida that is less likely to happen. The pitch can be expected to act slow.
As for the bowlers, the pitch suits the pacers more than it does the spinners.
Likely lineups:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed.
Ireland: Paul Stirling (c), Andrew Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Gareth Delany, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Craig Young.
Prediction:
Pakistan have previously lost against Ireland in a T20I in May. It won’t be surprising if Ireland defeats Pakistan again but Babar and Co. are expected to win.
