T20 World Cup: Pakistan beat Canada by seven wickets in a must-win Group A game in New York to stay alive in the T20 World Cup. Opting to bowl first after winning the toss, Pakistan got off to a shaky start as Canadian opener Arron Jhonson hit fast bowler Shaheen Afridi for 11 runs in the first over of the game to give the team a decent start on a fresh wicket.
T20 World Cup: Pakistan vs Canada
The Comeback
Although the batters looked comfortable while playing their shots, the Pakistani bowlers kept bowling quickly, altering their lengths. They were rewarded when Mohammad Amir picked up the wicket of Navneet Dhaliwal which was followed by Shaheen Afridi picking up the wicket of Pargat Singh and the run out of Nicholas Kirton courtesy of some brilliant fielding from Imad Wasim.
The Collapse
Having lost three wickets for 50 runs Canada was in desperate need of a partnership but Haris Rauf had other ideas as the fast bowler picked up two wickets in his second over reducing Canada to 54/5 in the process.
Although the pair of Aaron Jhonson who scored a fine half-century and captain Saad Bin Zafar tried to steady the ship by adding 19 runs for the seventh wicket the inexperienced batting lineup crumbled after the fall of Jhonson’s wicket as Canada ended up posting a low total of 106/7 in 20 overs.
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The Bowling
It was a complete team effort from the Pakistani bowlers led by Amir who picked up two wickets and was well supported by fellow fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf along with the spin of Imad Wasim.
The Chase
Chasing a low total of 107 Pakistan got off to a slow start as the team lost the wicket of Saim Ayub and only managed to score 28 runs in the powerplay. Having said that the pair of Babar and Rizwan made sure that there were no hiccups in the chase as the duo batted sensibly and added 63 runs for the second before Babar was dismissed.
Rizwan who held one end notched up a scratchy half-century and made sure that Pakistan crossed the finish line thereby keeping their hopes of making it to the Super Eight stage alive.
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The Scenario
The Babar Azam-led side will now hope for a few results to go their way which includes winning their next match against Ireland and the USA to lose against India and Ireland that too by a big margin. It is a similar situation that the Men in Green faced during the T20 World Cup 2022 where they ended up as the runner-up after losing to eventual champions England.