T20 World Cup 2024: Babar Azam gifts gloves to child mascot after Canada win, video goes viral

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam won the hearts of everyone by gifting gloves to an emotional child mascot after his team's victory over Canada in the T20 World Cup 2024. However, the match was memorable for reasons beyond the scoreline.

A child mascot, overwhelmed by being in the presence of cricket superstars, was seen crying before the start of play. A picture of Babar consoling and hugging him soon went viral on social media. Recognising the child's admiration, the 29-year-old Babar took it upon himself to make his young fan's day. 

"After the anthem, he came to me. He was excited and suddenly started crying. So I got worried. But he said I am a fan. He did the same thing today. He was crying, standing in the line. We all have experienced this, when you meet a star, the excitement is at a different level," Babar said in a video posted by ICC.

"I thought if he is such a big fan of mine, I have the responsibility to gift him something," he further added.

Also read: PCB discloses monthly salaries of Pakistan cricket team players

Pakistan can still qualify for Super Eight with slightest of margins

The Men in Green finally secured their first victory of the marquee event, defeating Canada by seven wickets in Match 22 at the Nassau County Stadium in New York. After restricting the Canadian side to 106/7, Babar and Co chased down the target with 15 balls to spare thanks to an unbeaten 53 from Mohammad Rizwan.

While Pakistan's World Cup campaign got off to a rocky start with heartbreaking losses to the USA and India, with their recent victory the hopes of qualifying for the Super Eight depend upon the other team's results.

Also read: To defend that score against Pakistan on a wicket which got better was phenomenal: India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey

With their net run rate currently up to 0.191, they have a good chance of qualifying if they defeat Ireland and the USA loses their next two games. This is due to the extremely small margins required, Pakistan can win by any margin as long as they bat first and score at least 112, even if the USA lose their final two matches by a combined margin of ten runs (with scores of 140).