T20 World Cup: Pakistan beat Canada for first win

It was a quick turnaround for Babar Azam and Co. Just two days earlier, they had faced a heartbreaking defeat against India after being in a promising position during the chase. That, along with a shock defeat to USA earlier, meant they found themselves in must-win territory against Canada, who beat Ireland in their previous game.

But the 2009 champions and runners-up from the last edition found a way to bounce back and live to fight another day. A standout spell of 2/13 by Mohammad Amir helped restrict Canada to 106/7, before Mohammad Rizwan hit an unbeaten, run-a-ball 53 to complete a seven-wicket victory with 15 balls to spare.

It wasn’t a clinical performance from Pakistan, though, as there was the familiar assortment of fielding mistakes and timidness with the bat. To go past the unbeaten USA on net run-rate, they had to chase the target inside 14 overs. But their batters never really showed the desperation to get there.

Saim Ayub, in for Iftikhar Ahmed, took 12 balls to score six runs. His opening partner Rizwan, who had scored a lacklustre 44-ball 31 against India, was off to another slow start and got to nine off 14 balls. The pitch at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium had variable bounce again, but Pakistan pushed themselves to a tricky position at 21/1 after five overs.

It was only from the sixth over that Pakistan began to make a push as skipper Azam joined Rizwan at the crease. The two right-handers kept rotating the strike and picking the odd boundary to add a 63-run partnership for the second wicket. Azam was dismissed for a run-a-ball 33 in the 15th over before Fakhar Zaman (4 off 6) threw his wicket away in the 18th. But Rizwan hung in there to get his 29th T20I half-century and close out the game.

Pakistan had found themselves in a spot of bother with the ball as well. Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Amir bowled the first three overs and each of them began their spell by conceding a boundary. Thanks to opener Aaron Johnson, Canada got to 28/1 after four overs and had the platform to get to a sizeable total.

Johnson, who had come in with an average of 46.87 and strike-rate of 164.11 after 18 T20Is, went on to score an impressive 52 off 44 balls. The right-hander was handed some freebies by the Pakistan pacers initially but showed grit to bat till the 14th over and complete his sixth T20I half-century. At a venue where batters had struggled consistently, the 33-year-old remained patient to score valuable runs.

“My mentality is to remain positive and always try and get my team off to a good start,” said Johnson during the innings break. “My coach always tells me to see the ball and hit it, which is what I try to do. It’s very tough (against a quality attack like Pakistan’s) but I have some Caribbean background. The team wants me to face the pace and I relish the opportunity.”

The other five batters in Canada’s top six though were dismissed for single-digit scores as Amir and Haris Rauf claimed two wickets apiece.

Pakistan’s first win in the tournament took them past Canada to third position on the Group A table. To make it to the Super 8 stage, they will need to beat Ireland handsomely and hope USA lose their last two games and India remain unbeaten.