Pakistan batting order falters as two batters go scoreless after Babar Azam, Saim Ayub set platform for big total
- Babar Azam and Co starting off their Europe tour with Ireland series.
- Remaining two matches to take place on Sunday, Tuesday.
- Pakistan to launch World Cup campaign in Dallas on June 6.
DUBLIN: The Green Shirts have set a reasonable 183-run target against Ireland with the help of Babar Azam and opening batter Saim Ayub’s responsible play in the first T20I being played at the Clontarf Cricket Club, Dublin, on Friday.
After being put into bat, skipper Babar Azam starred with 57 off 43 balls while Saim Ayub made 29-ball 45. Iftikhar Ahmed chipped in with 15-ball 37*.
The Men in Green lost Mohammad Rizwan (1) early in the innings. Babar paired with Saim to provide stability to the innings with an 85-run stand.
Saim was caught by Campher off the bowling of Delany after scoring 45 runs off 29 balls, including four boundaries and three sixes.
Meanwhile, Babar crossed fifty for the 38th time in T20Is. He was caught by Mark Adair off the bowling of Craig Young, scoring 57 runs from 43 deliveries.
Pakistan struggled for a bit where they lost four wickets for 31 runs but Iftikhar covered the runs at the backend.
He smoked 15-ball 37, powered by three fours and as many sixes. Shaheen Shah Afridi also remained unbeaten, scoring 13 runs from 7 deliveries, hitting two sixes, with a strike rate of 185.71.
For Ireland, Young was the best bowler, finishing with figures of 2/27.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abbas Afridi
Ireland: Paul Stirling (c), Mark Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Ben White, Craig Young
