Pakistan end T20 World Cup campaign with three-wicket win over Ireland

Pakistan end T20 World Cup campaign with three-wicket win over Ireland

LAUDERHILL(Agencies): Captain 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, 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.

Pakistan’s World Cup failure down to poor batting, says Babar:

Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Babar Azam said on Sunday the team’s batting let them down at the Twenty20 World Cup and apologised to fans for failing to reach the Super Eight stage. Pakistan fell to the tournament’s biggest upset when the United States, a tier-two member of the game, beat the 2009 champions via Super Over. Defeat by arch-rivals India then left Babar’s side with a mountain to climb to advance. India and the U.S. bagged the two Super Eight slots from Group A while Pakistan finished third after Sunday’s laboured three-wicket victory against Ireland. “Thank you so much for supporting us, and sorry for that performance…,” Babar said after the match in Florida. “I know the fans and the team are saddened by this. It is not any one player’s fault. We all made a mistake.” Babar had stepped down as captain of all three formats after Pakistan failed to make the knockout stage of the 50-overs World Cup in India last year, but was reinstated as white-ball skipper ahead of the 20-overs showpiece in the U.S. and West Indies. Amid sub-par performances at the tournament, talk of rifts within the camp surfaced, while Pakistan Cricket Board’s chief promised “major surgery” on the team after their exit was confirmed last week. Pakistan’s batting was a huge disappointment as they failed to make the most of the powerplay overs and could not get partnerships established. “The pitches here helped the fast bowlers a little but I think overall our batting did not click,” said Babar. “We lost two crucial matches even when we were in charge.” All-rounder Imad Wasim has said the team needed a complete reset of their approach to white-ball cricket and Babar agreed. “Every player has to think, because cricket has become very fast. With modern cricket, you must have game awareness,” he said. “You know that the strike rate here is (low)… I think it’s about game awareness and common sense.”

 Brief scores:

Pakistan 111 for 7 (Babar 32 not out, McCarthy 3-15) beat Ireland 106 for 9 (Delany 31, Shaheen 3-22, Imad 3-8) by three wickets and seven balls remaining.