Pakistan huff and puff to consolation win at T20 World Cup

Pakistan, already out of the tournament, returned with a consolation three-wicket win against Ireland in the T20 World Cup in Lauderhill, Florida.

The Pakistanis, who are facing brickbats for their poor performance in the tournament’s first two matches, reduced Ireland to 15/4 in three overs and then to 32/6 in the seventh over. However, Ireland managed to escape from that to end with 106/9 in 20 overs.

Gareth Delany scored 31 off 19 while Joshua Little hit 22 off 18. Shaheen Afridi, with 3/22, Mohammad Amir with 2/22 and Imad Wasim with 3/8 were the most successful bowlers.

Pakistan began well, reaching 40/2 in the powerplay. However, their middle and lower middle order that comprises experienced all-rounders like Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim continued to falter. The duo, apart from lacking fitness, have been extremely poor with the bat and their failure again brought Pakistan on the brink of defeat.

Skipper Babar Azam (32 not out), however, was helped by Abbas Afridi with a 33-run partnership before Shaheen Afridi’s two sixes saw them through.

Pakistan will return home failing to progress from the first round just like at the 50-over World Cup in India. But they may have to purge the likes of Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan, who are more of liabilities on the team than being any asset. Both failed badly even against India with Imad even failing to get bat on the ball which put question mark on his ability and commitment.

The next few months will be tough for Pakistan Cricket Board.

Ireland, on the other hand, will also rue a very poor run at the T20 World Cup where they lost to even Canada.

Pakistan, Cricket, ICC T20 World Cup, Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi