Florida [USA], June 17 (ANI): With his swinging deliveries and late slogs, Shaheen Afridi guided Pakistan to a three-wicket win in their final Group A game against Ireland at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground here.
It was a turbulent chase for Pakistan as they faced a lot of hiccups, which almost derailed their chase before reaching their destination.
While neutrals enjoyed the enticing clash between both sides, the fans of both teams were on the edge of their seats, witnessing a game full of twists and turns.
Pakistan got off to a composed start with the opening duo of Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan while chasing a paltry total of 107.
After going almost run-a-ball till the fourth over, Ayub (17) tried to accelerate by whipping it over square leg. He found a top edge, which landed safely in the hands of Lorcan Tucker.
Rizwan (17) followed in the footsteps of his compatriot in the final over of the powerplay. The middle-order set-up consisting of Fakhar Zaman (5), Usman Khan (2), Shadab Khan (0) and Imad Wasim (4) fell like a deck of cards.
Barry McCarthy ran rampant, picked two scalps, and ensured Pakistan lost four wickets after putting just 10 runs on board.
Ireland flew high after reducing Pakistan from 52/2 to 62/6 and inched closer towards an unlikely victory.
Abbas Afridi and skipper Babar Azam steadied the ship by forging a 33-run partnership to take Pakistan to win.
With 12 runs needed in 15 deliveries, Abbas went for the glory shot but failed to clear the boundary rope at the end.
Shaheen Afridi came in and muscled the ball twice into the stands to seal a three-wicket win for last year’s finalist.
Earlier in the innings, after putting Ireland to bat, Shaheen Afridi rocked Ireland early with his swinging deliveries.
Mohammed Amir was the perfect compatriot and dealt blows on the other end as well. The Irish side were reduced to 32/6.
Gareth Delany (31) and Joshua Little (22*) chipped in with valuable contributions to propel Ireland’s score to 106/9.
Brief Score: Ireland 106/9 (Gareth Delany 31; Shaheen Afridi 3-22, Mohammad Amir 2-11) vs Pakistan 111/7 (Babar Azam 32*, Shaheen Afridi 13*; Barry McCarthy 3-15, Curtis Campher 2-24). (ANI)
