T20 World Cup 2024: Pakistan vs Ireland, 36th Match - Who Said What?

Pakistan were close to messing up their final game of the T20 World Cup 2024 against Ireland but Shaheen Shah Afridi came to the rescue and helped the Men in Green pick up the win. Ahead of the tournament, the ace pacer was removed from captaincy in a rather controversial fashion but when the going got tougher, Shaheen rose to the occasion and pulled Pakistan out from the jaw of an embarrassing defeat in Florida.

Bowling first, Shaheen screwed Ireland’s top order, picking three wickets. Mohammad Amir supported him well and picked up two wickets as Ireland were reduced to 32/6 at one stage. However, Gareth Delany and Mark Adair pulled Ireland from a difficult spot and stitched a 34-run partnership. For Pakistan, Imad Wasim dominated in the middle overs, picking up three wickets as Ireland posted 106 runs in the first innings.

When it came to the chase, Mohammad Rizwan and Saim Ayub gave the team a decent start but things got complicated very quickly. Pakistan’s middle order once again stumbled as wickets fell like a house of cards. Skipper Babar Azam however held one hand which kept the Men in Green remain in the chase till the last. Otherwise, they could have tumbled much earlier. In the end, Shaheen hit two sixes to finish the game which looked difficult for Pakistan at one stage.

1. Shaheen does the magic work

Be it with the ball or with the bat, Shaheen played a very important role in Pakistan’s win. Coming to the tournament, the pacer was under immense pressure, given how he was removed from captaincy but he eventually did his part but that didn’t help Pakistan qualify for the Super 8. However, Shaheen can be happy with his shift in the entire tournament, let alone against Ireland.

2. Babar’s resilience 

Babar held one end which proved extremely vital. Pakistan was all over the place during the chase but Babar’s 32* runs off 34 balls were critical in them getting over the line in the end.

Losing skipper Paul Stirling said:

They put pressure on us and they blew away our top-order of us away and that was the difference. Proud of our fight we showed today, we were 30-5 and managed to get to that score in the end which wasn't too far away. Thought we will lose by 8 wickets but we fought and that shows we want to play good cricket. It's about getting the balance right, in T20 cricket you need that tempo, we haven't got that quite right, we needed to go hard at certain times but couldn't. I would rather see us batting like the way we did today than against Canada. It's been a difficult couple of weeks, we will regroup in the next couple of months and years to come.

Winning skipper Babar Azam said:

We finished well, we took early wickets in the bowling. In the batting we did not do well but we took it home with the tailenders. Bowling was good as conditions suit our fast bowlers. Batting we made a few mistakes, we had chances to win against USA and India. If the team needs me to open, I will and if they need me to bat 3, I will. Whatever the team situation suits I will do it. We have a good bunch of players, a few days rest and then there is a series. We will sit and assess where we went wrong. As a team we are not good in this tournament.

POTM Shaheen Afridi said:

Wicket was supporting for the new ball, we just tried to hit our good areas and strike early. Our plans were a success. My idea is to bowl fuller, we were trying to hit our areas. We didn't play good cricket which our country demands. There are few areas we need to improve quickly, Champions Trophy is coming. We have to improve and we'll have to grow as a team. Crowd - they always come and support us, thank you everyone for the support. It's tough times but they always come and support us, that's what we need as a team. That's my job, I come late (to bat) in the innings, I just hit. The team needed it. Always trying to hit sixes.