NEW YORK: In the vital T20 World Cup 2024 match taking place at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Saturday, Pakistan held the visitors, Canada, to 106-7 thanks to a dominant pace attack.
The Canadian openers Navneet Dhaliwal (4) and Pragat Singh (2) were removed by pacers Mohammad Amir and Shaheen Shah Afridi, giving their team a much-needed breakthrough in the pivotal game.
Haris Rauf sent two batsmen to the dugout and then looked to be targeting a hat-trick as Pakistan looked dominant with five wickets remaining. In the tenth over, the pacer edged Ravinderpal Singh and Shreyas Movva to take his first two wickets of the game.
Nicholas Singh was earlier run out for just two runs by Imad Wasim.
Canada was at 73/6 when young bowler Naseem Shah struck, getting his first wicket of the innings in the 14th over.
Aaron Johnson tries his hardest to keep Canada in the game as he dumps Imad for his third six and goes on to score a fifty as the wickets keep falling.
With just ten runs under his belt, Canadian captain Saad Bin Zafar was dismissed.
The Men in Green need to win this match despite their opponents’ lack of experience, as they had lost their last two matches in the massive competition.
To remain in the tournament, the national team must win both of its remaining group stage matches, which are today and tomorrow.
XIs gameplay
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Amir, Muhammad Rizwan (wk), Saim Ayub, and Babar Azam (capt).
Canada: Jeremy Gordon, Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Ravinderpal Singh, Dilon Heyliger, Saad Bin Zafar (capt), and Shreyas Movva.
Pakistan’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup’s Super 8 are now hanging in the balance due to other outcomes of the Group A games. The team lost its opening two World Cup matches to the United States of America (USA) and India, respectively, in Dallas and New York.
Pitch Specification
The pitches in New York have been kind to bowlers; for once, a team was able to reach 150 at the location, since the highest score recorded by any team there was 137. The pitch will continue to help bowlers if there is no chance of rain or clouds hiding the sky.
