Pakistan defeated Canada by seven wickets in their third game of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Monday. This was a major win for Pakistan after losing to the United States and India in the opening two matches of the tournament.
Pakistan had to reach a target 107 runs and despite a poor start for the team as in the first four overs, Pakistan could not hit a single boundary, they managed to gain their first victory of the tournament. The first to go down for just six runs was Saim Ayub. This left Pakistan at 20-1 in 4.2 overs.
Although a wicket fell at a relatively early stage, it was Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan after that who built a valuable partnership of 63 runs. Azam finally went for 33 runs, and Rizwan continued his fight and scored an unbeaten 53 off 53 balls. This fighting knock ensured Pakistan comfortably reached the target in just 17.3 overs.
The Pakistan bowlers performed really well, having kept Canada to 106-7 during the first inning. Mohammad Amir made early strikes with a beautiful inswinger, smashing the stumps of the openers’ Navneet Dhaliwal in the third over. Shaheen Afridi got their second wicket in the sixth over, keeping the Canadian team on their toes.
The Pakistani bowlers have done well to keep the Canadian batters in check. Haris Rauf and Mohammad Amir took two, and Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah took one each. A special mention goes to Rauf, who has now become the second bowler for Pakistan to achieve 100 wickets in T20 internationals.
Pakistan did struggle against Canada after Aaron Johnson scored a decent 52 runs from 44 balls, in which he stroked eight boundaries. But that wasn’t enough since the runs on the board were not too challenging.
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