Ireland pulled off a historic win by defeating Babar Azam’s Pakistan side by 5 wickets at the Clontarf Cricket Club in Dublin, their first T-20 win over Pakistan. Notably, Ireland had only beaten Pakistan once before, in the 2007 50-over World Cup.
The loss to Ireland puts Pakistan 1-0 down in the three-match T20 series, which comes just ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup which will be played in the United States and the West Indies from June 2. Notably, the two teams will also face each other in the group stages of the T20 World Cup next month.
Irealand’s record win over Pakistan:
Batting first, a struggling Pakistan side posted a total of 182 runs in their 20 overs with opener Saim Ayub (45 off 29 balls) and skipper Babar Azam (57 off 43 balls) being the top scorers for the Men in Green. Meanwhile, pacer Craig Young was Ireland’s star performer with the ball, taking two crucial wickets in one over of Babar Azam and Azam Khan to put the Pakistan middle order under tremendous pressure.
Ireland didn’t have much luck with the bat either, losing their first two wickets in less than 4 overs. Andrew Balbirnie and Harry Tector then put on a 75-run partnership to take their side past the 100-run mark.
Later, Balbirnie continued to play a counter-attacking innings (77 off 55 balls) to take his side close to the target before being dismissed by Shaheen Shah Afridi in the 19th over of the game. In the end, however, Curtis Campher took a leg bye off the penultimate ball of the match to seal a memorable victory for his side.
Netizens react to Ireland’s record win over Pakistan:
Soon after Pakistan’s loss against Ireland on Friday, one user wrote, “My grandfather has been watching cricket since 1932, and he says this is the worst Pakistan team in history.was also the worst day in his life, and he is almost 100 years old.”
Another user posed a question to ICC over limited matches played by teams like Ireland and Netherlands, they wrote, “Don’t you think you should make teams like Ireland 🇮🇪 and Netherlands 🇳🇱 part of mainstream cricket? Been decades and still few teams play in the main calendar.”
Yet another user wondered if it was time to give back the captaincy of Pakistan Cricket Team to Shaheen Shah Aftridi. They wrote, “Time to give captaincy back to @iShaheenAfridi.”
Notably, Babar Azam had recently took back the white ball captaincy of Pakistan side from Shaheen Shah Afridi. Meanwhile, Shan Masood continues to lead Pakistan in red ball cricket.
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Published: 11 May 2024, 08:21 AM IST