Shaheen and Babar Secure Pakistan’s Nervy Win Against Ireland in T20 World Cup
Shaheen Afridi and Skipper Babar Azam, guided them to a thrilling three-wicket victory to end their T20 World Cup campaign, Although Pakistan created unnecessary complexity.
Babar led a chase that he watched crumble with an unbeaten 32, but Shaheen led the way with the ball with three early wickets and ended the match with two sixes.
Ireland 106 for 9 (Delany 31, Shaheen 3-22, Imad 3-8) lost to Pakistan 111 for 7 (Babar 32*, McCarthy 3-15) by three wickets and seven balls remaining.
Pakistan was having difficulties chasing the 107, but Babar Azam held his composure to lead them home.
Ireland was reduced to 32 for 6 as Shaheen was removed from the game, along with Mohammad Amir and Haris Rauf. Even though an early afternoon conclusion seemed imminent at that point, Gareth Delany and Mark Adair persevered and put together a 44-run combination off just 30 balls. In what is probably his final match for Pakistan, Imad Wasim handled the lower order with figures of 3 for 8 in four overs, but Josh Little’s 22-run cameo helped Ireland reach 106.
After eight overs, Pakistan was easily winning the chase thanks to the efforts of Saim Ayub, Babar, and Muhammad Rizwan, who all helped to lessen the pain caused by Ireland’s bowling assault. However, Babar was left with a reasonably long tail after a frenzied stretch in the middle overs, during which Curtis Campher and Barry McCarthy claimed four wickets for ten runs.
However, Abbas Afridi made his way through a carefree 17 to reduce the target to 12, and Little’s calf injury meant that Ireland had to bowl spin at Shaheen. In the end, he struck two massive sixes to complete a victory that brought Pakistan relief rather than elation.
Shaheen finally ended his eight-match run without a first-over wicket in T20Is today. His third delivery was a perfect example of why he has been so successful up front in the past. This was his longest run of wicketlessness in T20Is.
The fresh ball crashed into the stumps after swerving and seaming back in to breach Andrew Balbirnie’s defenses. Shaheen managed to get one ball to curve the opposite way after two, caressing Lorcan Tucker’s outside edge as they traveled to Rizwan. Though that was not awarded, there was almost a third when Pakistan reviewed one that had clipped Harry Tector’s pad. In his subsequent over, Shaheen trapped Tector in front.
After Pakistan defeated Ireland 32 to 6, there was little chance of a comeback. However, Ireland realized that the best way to score runs was to keep attacking. Gareth Delany struck Shadab’s opening ball for six in the tenth over, while Mark Adair drew the final ball for four.
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In the eleventh over, they hit Abbas Afridi, who hadn’t played in a match since being named in Pakistan’s World Cup squad, for sixteen runs. Ireland managed to stay within three figures thanks to it. When they did have another collapse, going from 76 for 6 to 80 for 9, Little and Ben White batted the final six overs, contributing an unbroken 26 for the final wicket. They were almost rewarded for it an hour later.
If Pakistan had won easily, it would have been an unauthentic conclusion to their campaign, and as such, they collapsed. In comparison to Ireland, Pakistan’s position was impregnable, even if they thought they were sitting nicely midway through the chase against India.
With Babar and Fakhar Zaman batting, Pakistan required 55 in 12 overs with eight wickets remaining. Zaman hit a ball to mid-off. McCarthy’s additional bounce in the tenth over deceived Usman Khan, causing butterflies to spread around the Pakistani camp.
Shadab, for whom cricket currently provides no hiding spot, flicked his second delivery to the wicketkeeper, bringing back painful memories of the chase that collapsed last Sunday.
After Ravindra Jadeja bowled against him, Imad has been trying a cut shot, and at last he connected, but straight to the man at point. Many World Cups are won in the first round by teams with an insecure top order and a nonexistent middle order, and this match was the ideal example of why.
