Match Report – IRE vs PAK 3rd T20I, May 14, 2024

Pakistan 181 for 4 (Babar 75, Rizwan 56, Mark Adair 3-28) beat Eire 178 for 7 (Tucker 73, Balbirnie 35, Tector 30*, Shaheen 3-14, Abbas 2-43) by six wickets

However, spearheaded by a spell from Shaheen throughout which he nailed his yorkers nearly at will, Eire collapsed. His 4 overs allowed a miserly 14 runs and yielded three wickets whereas his team-mates chipped in round him. Tucker holed out towards a sometimes tidy Imad Wasim and the lads who adopted by no means got here near carrying on from the place he left off. Eire managed simply 49 within the final seven as Pakistan’s high quality shone via, and ceded momentum.

Essentially the most important setback for Pakistan was the continuation of Saim Ayub’s lean run, the opener top-edging one to quick third early on. However within the type of middling chase they thrive on, Rizwan and Babar took full benefit, Babar bedding himself in whereas Rizwan lit the powerplay up. The 2 swapped roles as soon as the fielding restrictions lifted, and Babar benefitted from George Dockrell placing him down on 19. As on Sunday, Eire fell away after that, with Babar capitalising on uninspiring bowling to steamroll his solution to a 42-ball 75. Eire managed a late cluster of wickets as Pakistan galloped in the direction of the ending line, however the inevitable finish got here with a full three overs to spare.

Shaheen will get it proper, and the way!

After he was punished for an errant displaying within the second recreation, Shaheen struck again with the hearth of a thousand suns. The primary over was unusual as Balbirnie picked him off for 2 boundaries, however Shaheen ended up touchdown nearly each one in all his remaining 18 deliveries on a sixpence, conceding simply six extra runs and taking three wickets.

Most spectacular was his potential to nail the yorker on command, initially utilising inswing to shatter Ross Adair’s stumps. His ultimate two overs had been an exhibition of tempo and accuracy as Eire’s momentum floor to a halt, and Shaheen signed off the collection with a efficiency that might be the beginning of his return to classic, world-beating rhythm.

Babar – energy hitter?

The confusion round who ought to bat in Pakistan’s high 4 – and in what order – was summed up by a barely surreal 14th over of Pakistan’s chase. Babar, the person so usually accused of displaying parsimony together with his batting intent, was briefly in with a shot of hitting six sixes in an over from a hapless Ben White.

Three mild, looping deliveries had been dispatched with aplomb, and when Babar missed a flat fourth one, he made up by smashing the subsequent down the bottom for an additional six. The 25 in that over took his strike fee zooming up, making up for an additional considerably sluggish begin in an innings the place, had Dockrell held on to a easy probability, Babar would have been on his means for a 16-ball 19. As a substitute, he struck as many sixes as the remainder of his team-mates mixed.

Tucker leads from the entrance

Even Balbirnie, who was going at a run a ball at that time, discovered an additional gear, guaranteeing Pakistan had been all the time underneath stress so long as that partnership lasted.

Tucker additionally ensured the rapid post-powerplay slowdown towards spin by no means fairly materialised, highlighted by his takedown of Saim Ayub within the tenth over. He took benefit of Pakistan’s curious choice to not bowl Imad within the first ten as properly.

He signed off with three successive fours in Hasan’s third over, hitting him out of the assault and probably sealing his destiny forward of Pakistan’s squad announcement for the T20 World Cup. That Eire’s gears floor to a half instantly after Tucker fell maybe illustrated the distinction at school between him and the batters he was surrounded by.