NEW YORK: Canada’s inexperienced batters crumbled against pace for yet another low score at the Twenty20 World Cup as Pakistan finally registered their first win Tuesday.
The four-pronged Pakistan pace attack, led by Mohammad Amir’s impeccable figures of 2-13, clipped Canada for 106-7 with only opening batter Aaron Johnson showing aggression in his 44-ball knock of 52.
Mohammad Rizwan’s unbeaten half-century (53 not out) anchored Pakistan, which lost to rival India on Sunday, to 107-3 in 17.3 overs for a commanding seven-wicket win.
“Good for us, we needed this win,” Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said. “We started well with the bowling, in the first six overs (and) we know we had to be up to the mark.”
Johnson sent early tremors in Pakistan’s camp with his back-to-back boundaries off Shaheen Shah Afridi’s first two balls of the match after Babar won the toss and elected to field.
But Amir, who came out of retirement for the World Cup, hit the right areas straight away and buckled the batters as wickets continued to fall around Johnson.
Johnson, who was dropped on 44 by Fakhar Zaman at mid-wicket, hit four boundaries and brought up his half-century with his fourth six before he too was finally undone by Naseem Shah in the 14th over.
Fast bowler Haris Rauf became the third quickest bowler to complete 100 wickets in T20 internationals when he had Shreyas Movva (2) caught behind and then found the outside edge of Ravinderpal Singh’s bat in the same over to finish with 2-26.
“Definitely, it was a bit disappointing,” Pakistan-born Canada skipper Saad Bin Zafar said. “We wanted to play a positive brand of cricket and I think the wicket was not very helpful. It was difficult to bat early on and not a good toss to lose. We were about 25 to 30 runs short.”
Pakistan’s experiment with Saim Ayub as an opener in the World Cup for the first time didn’t work out as the left-hander struggled to score 6 off 12 balls before he edged Dillon Heyliger (2-18) to wicketkeeper inside the batting power play.
Rizwan and Babar (33) then had a 63-run stand before the Pakistan skipper banged his bat on the wicket in anger when he tried to guide Heyliger to third man but couldn’t beat the wicketkeeper as Rizwan’s run-a-ball half-century saw Pakistan over the line.
Pakistan, the 2022 runner-up, needs to beat Ireland in their last game and also hope co-host US lose both their remaining games against India and Ireland to have a chance of advancing on superior net run-rate.
The United States made a history by beating Pakistan in the Super Over in Dallas after they had defeated Canada in a high-scoring opening game of the tournament they are jointly co-hosting with the West Indies.
Pakistan finally get first win at T20 World Cup, beat Canada by 7 wickets
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Pakistan finally get first win at T20 World Cup, beat Canada by 7 wickets
- “Good for us, we needed this win,” Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said
- Amir, who came out of retirement for the World Cup, hit the right areas straight away and buckled the batters as wickets continued to fall around Johnson
Warriorz beat Knight Riders on final delivery in low-scoring thriller to remain in ILT20 playoff hunt
- Chasing 135, and needing 12 from the final over, Sharjah claim victory thanks largely to unbeaten 42 from James Rew and a supporting knock of 28 by Sikandar Raza
ABU DHABI: Sharjah Warriorz held their nerve in a tense, low-scoring encounter to secure a dramatic four-wicket victory over Abu Dhabi Knight Riders at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Monday, a win that keeps their International League T20 playoff hopes alive.
Chasing just 135 for victory, the Warriorz reached the target off the final ball, thanks in large part to a composed, unbeaten 42 from James Rew and a crucial supporting knock of 28 from Sikandar Raza.
Sharjah are still at the foot of the table in sixth place but the victory left them on six points with two matches remaining, level with the Knight Riders, who have played one game more, and Gulf Giants. With Dubai Capitals just two points ahead in third place, it sets up a tight race for the remaining playoff places.
A blistering opening bowling spell from Taskin Ahmed and Wasim Akram put the Knight Riders on the back foot from the start after they were asked to bat first. The pair ripped through the top order to leave Abu Dhabi reeling on 10/4 inside four overs.
Ahmed struck in the opening over to dismiss Phil Salt before Akram removed Brandon McMullen LBW. Ahmed then claimed the wicket of Alex Hales, and Akram followed it up with a historic wicket maiden in the fourth over, trapping Liam Livingstone for a duck. It was the first wicket maiden by a UAE player in the four-season history of the competition.
Sherfane Rutherford attempted to stabilize the innings with a counterattacking 44 off 36 balls, and Alishan Sharafu added 19, but scoring remained difficult as the Warriorz bowlers tightened their grip once again. Raza broke Rutherford and Sharafu’s 38-run stand, and despite a late partnership of 52 between Rutherford and Unmukt Chand, who contributed 24, the Knight Riders were restricted to a total of 134/9. Adil Rashid removed both Jason Holder and Andre Russell at the death, finishing the day with three wickets.
The Warriorz chase began in shaky fashion as they lost Johnson Charles and Monank Patel early, before Tom Kohler-Cadmore steadied the innings with a patient 30. Sunil Narine and Olly Stone applied pressure through the middle overs, however, leaving Sharjah on 58/3 at the halfway stage.
Narine eventually removed Kohler-Cadmore, but Raza and Rew then combined in a vital 57-run partnership to keep the chase on track. The latter found the boundary at key moments and rotated the strike calmly as the equation tightened.
Holder bowled a superb penultimate over to leave the Warriorz requiring 12 from the final six balls but Rew and Rashid held their nerve to guide the Warriorz to the winning run on the last delivery.
Player of the match Rashid praised his teammates for their composure in the closing stages: “It was pleasing to contribute in a situation where things could easily have gone the other way, especially bowling the 18th and 20th overs.
“Having played against Jason and Andre for a long time does help, but thankfully the plans came off.”
Holder, the Knight Riders captain, admitted his side fell short with the bat.
“We didn’t put enough runs on the board, although full credit goes to our bowlers for the way they fought and took the game deep,” he said.
“We needed to keep wickets intact during the powerplay, and if one or two moments had gone our way, the momentum could have shifted.”
