The plight of the Pakistani cricket team in the World Cup 2024 was evident in its last match as well. The Pakistani team, which was already out of the race for the Super-8 round after losing to the USA and India, had to struggle for victory in the last match as well. Once again, it was a tough task to achieve the small target. The target of 107 runs against Ireland also proved to be a mountain for it, but somehow captain Babar Azam led the team to a 3-wicket win, saving the team from another embarrassing defeat.

Shaheen-Aamir created a stir right from the beginning

Like the rest of the matches of the tournament, this time too Pakistan's fast bowlers gave the team a good start but they had to pay the price for slacking off in the middle. Shaheen Shah Afridi put Ireland in trouble by taking 2 wickets in the first over itself. Mohammad Aamir (2/11) also took a wicket in the very next over. Then in the third over Shaheen (3/22) took another wicket. Ireland lost 6 wickets for 32 runs in just 6.3 overs.

It seemed that Ireland would not be able to score more than 50-60 runs but this is where Gareth Delaney along with Mark Adair saved the team by making a partnership of 44 runs. Apart from these two, Josh Little, who came at number 10, also scored 22 runs quickly and took the team to 106 runs at the loss of 9 wickets. For Pakistan, apart from Shaheen and Aamir, Imad Wasim took 3 wickets.

Pakistani batsmen failed again

Pakistan had a better start than Ireland and the team scored 40 runs in the powerplay and lost only 2 wickets but after that the innings suddenly started to falter. Between the 9th and 11th overs, Pakistan lost 4 wickets for just 10 runs in 18 balls. The score which was 52 runs for 2 wickets after 8 overs, became 62 runs for 6 wickets by the end of the 11th over. Strong bowling by Barry McCarthy (3/15) and Curtis Campher (2/24) and some good fielding destroyed the Pakistani batting.

From here, Pakistan was facing the threat of another defeat but the relief for them was that captain Babar Azam (32 not out) was at the crease and he got good support from Abbas Afridi (17), who could not do much in bowling. He shared a 33-run partnership with captain Babar and brought the team close to victory. Abbas was out at a score of 95 but Shaheen (13 not out) who came after him hit 2 sixes and gave the team victory.