PAK vs IRE, T20 World Cup 2024 Match Report: Shaheen Afridi stars with ball and bat in nervy Pakistan win over Ireland

Pakistan beat Ireland by 3 wickets

Babar Azam led from the front to ensure that Pakistan exited the T20 World Cup with a face-saving three-wicket victory over Ireland at Lauderhill in Florida. The new-ball pairing of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Amir had wrecked the Irish innings with five wickets in the Powerplay, and though Ireland recovered to post 106-9, that total looked well below-par for the surface. And when Pakistan went past 50 with just two wickets down, a straightforward win seemed to be on the cards.

But this is a shambolic Pakistan side that struggles to do anything the easy way. They lost four wickets for 10 in the space of 18 balls to slump to 62-6. The vastly experienced trio of Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim all played awful shots to get out, but crucially, Babar Azam was still around. And the new man, Abbas Afridi, wasn’t without pedigree either. After all, Umar Gul, his uncle, was a key player in Pakistan World T20 victory in 2009.

Afridi and Babar added 33 in painstaking fashion before the all-rounder’s discomfort against spin was exposed by Ben White. Having already miscued a couple, Afridi’s swipe down the ground found Ross Adair, on as a substitute for Josh Little, at long-on. With the smattering of Pakistani fans who had braved the inclement Florida weather and the team’s erratic performances looking on nervously, Shaheen clubbed two sixes down the ground – either side of being dropped at slip – to finish things off.

It was Shaheen who had given Pakistan the perfect start, castling Andy Balbirnie and having Lorcan Tucker caught behind in his first over. Paul Stirling, the Irish captain, looked to charge Amir, and top-edged behind, while Harry Tector bizarrely walked off without reviewing after a Shaheen delivery had pitched outside leg stump and thudded into his back heel.

Gareth Delaney and Mark Adair added 44 in five overs to resurrect the innings, but the introduction of Imad stalled any thoughts of a strong finish. He dismissed Delaney, Adair and Barry McCarthy in his first two overs to reduce Ireland to 80-9. But even that wasn’t without some Pakistani drama. Shaheen collided with Usman Khan while taking the catch that sent back Adair, but fortunately, neither was badly hurt. Little and White limped through to the end of the 20 overs, and that total was so nearly enough.

Babar’s 34-ball 32 held the reply together after Mohammad Rizwan, his opening partner, had played the first of several reckless shots. It was finally left to Shaheen to ensure that his excellent spell of 3-22 wasn’t undone by the ineptitude of the batsmen.

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