Pakistan were eliminated from the 2007 ICC 50 over World Cup series after losing to Ireland. They still have not forgotten that the Pakistani team had suffered a big blow after the mysterious death of coach Bob Ulmer. Yesterday's defeat to Ireland might be a sign of 'déjà vu' for Pakistan ahead of the T20 World Cup to be held in the same West Indies this time. This is because the Irish team has been drawn in Group A, which includes India and Pakistan.

Apart from captain Babar Azam (57 runs, 43 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) and opener Sam Ayub (45 runs, 29 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes), Bagher Zaman was the other player to score 20 runs. Azam Khan and Shatab Khan both got out without scoring any runs. Finally Iftikhar Ahmed came and scored 37 runs with the help of 3 fours and 3 sixes in 15 balls and Shaheen Afridi scored 14 runs in 8 balls to take the score to 182 runs.

The chase was not easy and the game became a little tense with 40 runs needed from the last 4 overs. Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi have one over each left. The tragedy of Pakistan is that despite this they could not win. In the 17th over Abbas took the wicket of Action Dagrel (24 off 12 balls). He had given only 3 runs in the first 4 balls. In the end he gave a four.

After this, 28 runs are needed from 17 balls, Balbirnie is at the crease and is performing well. Then Shatab Khan dropped the catch. This is a difficult opportunity. Then Naseem Shah bowled a brilliant over and two accurate yorkers turned the match towards Pakistan. Then Irish player Delaney hit a brilliant four.

When 19 runs were needed in 2 overs, Shaheen Afridi dismissed opener Balbirnie, who had scored 77 runs in 55 balls. But Abbas Afridi could not bring victory as new Curtis Kampfer hit a reverse shot as soon as he came in and hit a four while 11 runs were needed in the last over. Ireland achieved a rare victory with one ball to spare. Palpurni, who scored 77 runs in 55 balls, was named Man of the Match. Ireland lead the 3-match series 1-0.