Watch cricket video highlights between Ireland vs Pakistan. Pakistan tour of Ireland 2024 second twenty/20 International match, played at Dublin.
Ireland clung to the dream of winning a historic series for just more than half the match. Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman, however, put on a devastating assault, scoring 140 runs off 78 balls for the third wicket to enable Pakistan win the second Twenty20 International in Dublin by seven wickets with 19 balls remaining. With a flurry of sixes to conclude the match and equal the series at one, Azam Khan hit 78 off 40 for Fakhar and 75 off 46 for Rizwan, who remained undefeated.
Following the cheap defeat of the openers, Zaman joined Rizwan. After a diving Curtis Campher third ball ended Saim Ayub’s run of unbroken form, Babar stole an innocuous medium-pace delivery from Graham Hume in the next over, leaving Pakistan trailing 194 runs. However, Rizwan—who has just been demoted in favor of Ayub—showed his worth in the powerplay by fusing brilliant slog sweeps with strategic placement. Up till Zaman settled in, he carried the lion’s share of the run-scoring burden.
After two expensive drops, Zaman removed Craig Young by hitting him square leg in the fifth over, and Pakistan was not threatened again. After the seventh over, things slowed down a little, but Pakistan’s position solidified as Ireland was unable to score runs. When Pakistan thrashed 21 off Young in the 13th over, the game decisively shifted out of Ireland’s hands and the asking rate fell from 10 to 8.4. After Zaman holed out, there was still time for a spectacular 30-ball cameo by Azam.
After Pakistan was unable to hold 183 in the opening Twenty20 International, the bigger worry was yet another unreliable bowling display. Due to the high cost of Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Amir, Pakistan was unable to keep Ireland contained during the Powerplay. Ireland’s innings was held together by Lorcan Tucker’s 34-ball 51, as Campher once again tormented Shaheen through the middle overs. The first innings score will make Pakistan’s bowlers believe they are too excellent to have allowed on this surface, as all but two of the hosts’ top seven players scored in double digits.
Amir is well regarded for his variations at the end of the game, and Shaheen Afridi is renowned for being deadly with the new ball. The left-arm pace pair found themselves hammered at every turn, as they opened and closed the bowling. Despite being among the wickets, Shaheen was nonetheless subjected to an assault during the Powerplay by Andy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling. After bowling to Campher in the first game, Shaheen didn’t fully learn his lesson. However, he gained his revenge when he dismissed both players in his second over.
Shaheen was dismissed for a four and a six in the fifteenth over despite bowling at Campher’s body with a superb leg up. After deciding to push the fielder back a bit later than expected, Campher was able to foresee the fuller delivery and struck a boundary to finish the 21-run over after smashing him wonderfully in front of cover for another six. Ireland quickly passed 190 runs in the last two overs thanks to 29 runs scored by Gareth Delany, who punished Afridi and Amir. Together, the two concluded with 8-0-93-4.
With the field stretched, Pakistan resorted to spin after Ireland had amassed 68 for 2 in seven overs. Imad Wasim is quite good at slowing down the enemy in this situation. Lorcan Tucker prodded Harry Tector, who was having trouble finding his groove. Ireland scored 16 runs in three overs and Pakistan recovered some control, but they showed little desire to defeat Ayub, a part-time player.
Well, Hume’s day had started off nicely. In the second over of Ireland’s defense, he removed Babar, but just as Rizwan and Zaman were getting going, he made two expensive errors. On the final delivery of the powerplay, he removed Rizwan at deep midwicket, and five balls later, he caught a top edge from Zaman at fine leg. After Ireland missed their opportunity to win the series historically, the series went to a final on Tuesday thanks to centuries from Rizwan and Zaman.
