Azam and Afridi help Pakistan end on a high
Babar Azam guided Pakistan through a nervy chase as they ended their T20 World Cup campaign with a three-wicket win over Ireland on Sunday in the last Group A match, a dead rubber after both teams were already eliminated.
Pakistan finished third in the five-team group with four points after losing to India and the United States, who progressed to the Super Eight stage. Ireland finished bottom with one point from the washout against Canada, ending their campaign without a win.
After Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl, Shaheen Afridi (3-22) dismissed Andrew Balbirnie and Lorcan Tucker in the first over while skipper Paul Stirling and George Dockrell fell to Mohammad Amir (2-11), leaving Ireland reeling at 28-5 in the sixth over.
Gareth Delany (31 off 19 balls) helped stabilise Ireland’s innings but fell to Imad Wasim (3-8) before an unbeaten last-wicket partnership of 26 runs between Joshua Little (22 not out) and Benjamin White (5 not out) got them to 106-9.
After Pakistan openers Mohammed Rizwan and Saim Ayub (both 17) fell during the powerplay, Barry McCarthy (3-15) dismissed Usman Khan and Shadab Khan in the same over, leaving Pakistan looking shaky at 57-5.
But Azam (32 not out) anchored the innings and Pakistan chased down the target with seven balls to spare, as Lauderhill’s Central Broward Park stadium finally saw a match completed after three of its previous games were washed out. Reuters
Updated
And that’s it from the USA and from Group A. Tomorrow, Group D comes to a head when the Netherlands attempt to reach the Super Eights by thrashing Sri Lanka and hoping Nepal do them a favour by beating Bangladesh. That’s all from me tonight, you may be interested to learn that England kick off in another sport, against Serbia, in half an hour. Join Daniel Harris here:
