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Under the captaincy of Babar Azam, Pakistan tasted their first victory of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States America (USA), against the Canada team, where they chased down a low total of 107-runs with seven wickets in hand, and 15 balls to spare.

At the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, the surface was quite slow, and the tricky pitch gave more headache to the batters, as it got tired with back-to-back games over it. It was just two days ago on the same surface, where Pakistan failed to chase down a low total of 120 runs and fell short by six runs.

Even with the victory over Canada, Pakistan needs to win their last game in Florida against Ireland, and that too with a big margin, even after that, they need to hope for a better result from other sides which should go in their favor for the competition.

Florida’s wet weather concerns Pakistan for ‘super eight’ qualification

In their very first game of the T20 World Cup, Pakistan were handed a surprising defeat by the United States of America at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. The 2009 champions struggled so much in their batting department that afternoon.

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The captain Babar Azam kept on playing the dots as he could manage only 44 runs in 43 balls, despite nailing three boundaries, and two sixes, which means, his rest 20 runs came in 38 balls. It was Shadab Khan’s 40-run knock in 25 balls, which helped them to get some momentum in the middle.

But since he got out, the lower middle order couldn’t do many jobs with the bat, as the ‘Men in Green’ could post 159/7 in their 20 overs, with Shaheen Shah Afridi remaining unbeaten on 23 runs in 16 balls.

The left-arm pacer didn’t start well with the ball too, as USA seemed to be reaching the target with ease. However, the whole bowling line-up made a good comeback towards the end overs, to pull the back favor in their favor. But Haris Rauf’s costly last over making sure that the game would move towards the ‘super-over’.

Saurabh Netravalkar was too good for them, as they failed to get the 19 runs in the super over, to start the tournament on a negative note.

Against India in New York, Pakistan pacers bowled beautifully. Eat 89/3 in the Indian batting, it felt like the opponent side would run away with the score, but they opened a collapse, and bundled them out for only 119 runs in 19 overs.

Till the 15^th over of the chase, when Mohammad Rizwan was batting, it felt like Pakistan could easily chase down the total with an over to spare, but India’s bowling was too hot to handle for them. The pressure of dots got the better of Rizwan, while Iftikhar Ahmed’s struggle along with a weak middle order could push them to 113 in 20 overs.

Now even though they have won the Canada game, they would want one of the USA or India to lose both of their last game. Both these sides will take on each other on June 12. If the game gets washed out, then Pakistan will be eliminated automatically.

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The next game for the runners-up of the last season is on June 16, at Florida against Ireland, and if they lose the game, then they won’t qualify. The issue is the wet weather of Florida, which has already seen its first game of the competition between Nepal and Sri Lanka getting washed out.

Even if the USA loses to India, and their last game against Ireland gets washed out, then still a victory won’t be enough for Pakistan to qualify. So, their hope will be to win the last game and expect one of India or the USA to lose both of their last two.

Points table of ‘Group A’ after Pakistan’s game against Canada

Group A	Matches	Won	Lost	Points	NRR
India	02	02	00	04	+1.455
USA	02	02	00	04	+0.626
Pakistan	03	01	02	02	+0.191
Canada	03	01	02	02	-0/493
Ireland	02	00	02	00	-1.712