Pakistan kept their hopes of reaching the T20 World Cup Super Eights stage alive with a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Canada. Mohammad Rizwan scored a timely half-century and Babar Azam played a captain's knock as Pakistan bounced back from successive defeats to beat Canada at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Westbury, New York. Following their shock opening loss to co-hosts USA, and defeat against rivals India, Pakistan's tournament would have been over if they failed to triumph at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Tuesday.
The 2009 T20 World Cup winners now sit third with two points after one win in three matches, with Tuesday's win meaning they still have a shot at finishing in the top two in Group A. Azam won the toss and put Canada into bat, with opener Aaron Johnson beginning the innings with back-to-back boundaries. The impressive Johnson (52) waged a lone battle against Pakistan's pace attack.
Mohammad Amir (2-13) and Haris Rauf (2-26) led the charge for Pakistan, while Shaheen Afridi (1-21) and Naseem Shah (1-24) helped ensure Canada were unable to find rhythm. Only three Canadian batters reached double digits and if not for Johnson's maiden World Cup fifty and a late flurry from Kaleem Sana (13 not out), Canada would have struggled to reach the modest total of 106-7 they posted. The temporary arena in East Meadow, where India and South Africa defended less than run-a-ball targets in recent days, looked on course.
