Pakistan defeated Ireland by 3 wickets in their last match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. With two wins and as many defeats, the Men in Green failed to reach the Super 8 stage of the tournament. Pakistan were thumped by the United States of America and India in the first two games.

Shaheen Afridi was the star of the contest with three wickets and 13 runs. Pakistan captain Babar Azam spoke about his team’s first round exit.

“We lost back-to-back wickets, but managed to get over the line in the end,” Babar said. “We’ve got to go home, chat and see where we lacked and then come back. We couldn’t finish off close games… we weren’t good as a team.”

Afridi’s mesmerizing left-arm swing with the new white ball came a bit too late for Pakistan, which didn’t advance for the first time at the T20 World Cup. Pakistan won the tournament in 2009 and was runner-up in 2022.

Afridi hit the top of Andy Balbirnie’s off stump in his second ball that darted into the right-hander, and then two balls later found the outside edge of Lorcan Tucker’s bat.

Afridi was so pumped up that Pakistan wasted both its reviews — against Harry Tector and Campher – inside the first 14 balls of the match. However, Afridi was lucky to win an onfield leg-before-wicket decision against Tector which the replays suggested could have been reverted had the Irish batter reviewed it.