Commencement of the series between two great teams Ireland and Pakistan where hosts took a 1-0 lead after defeating Pakistan in the 1st T20i. Ireland was in the driving seat since they won the toss. Pakistan scored 182 runs including a half-century from skipper Babar Azam, who was renamed captain and played an important knock.
The T20 World Cup is about to start in a few days and this series will be a practice series for both teams, plans, and strategies will be done and some exciting thrillers can be witnessed in the remaining two matches. Ireland has an equal amount of dominance over Pakistan so this rivalry is worth watching.
Pakistan looked solid in batting
Ireland had won the toss and opted to bowl first and felt like they would be thrown on the back foot, Pakistan started well despite losing Mohammed Rizwan’s wicket and scored 38 runs in powerplay. Later Pakistan received the license and started hitting boundaries Saim Ayub scored 45 runs including four fours and three sixes. Skipper Babar Azam scored a half-century and looked in a solid touch scoring 57 runs. Finishing by Iftikhar Ahmed and Shaheen Afridi helped Pakistan to score 183 which was enough to defend, the pitch had a bit of swing, and felt like the ball could come on bat easily in the second half.
Ireland’s Andrew Balbirinie stood and chased the target
Ireland needed 183 runs to win and some pinch-hitting was needed in the start to have a good start, ideally, not a good start for the hosts as they lost two wickets in the powerplay, and from that connoisseur player Paul Stirling lost his wicket very early. Ireland was in a fuss as they scored just 43 still a slightly better powerplay than Pakistan. Andrew Balbirinie took charge and started scoring runs through boundaries and so his knock proved to finish the final hurdle which wouldn’t possible if he had not stood from one end. Andrew Balbirinie scored 77 runs ten fours and two sixes. He was adjourned as Man Of the Match.
Bowlers were hammered from both ends
Ireland won the match by 5 wickets but the bowlers of both the teams were targeted and despite not showing respect batters were smashing boundaries and no one was economical since the pitch was batting friendly bowlers were thrashed from all sides so the score reached up to 183 and it was chased easily.
Pakistan will try to bounce back and will try to win the match. Ireland will try to seal the series in the next match.
Also Read: IND v IRE: Jasprit Bumrah Returns As Young Indian Side Faces Ireland In A T20 Series