Pakistan Secures First T20 World Cup Win, Babar Azam Relieved

Pakistan's skipper Babar Azam expressed relief after their first victory in the T20 World Cup, acknowledging the challenging pitch conditions that hindered their chase of 107 runs. Having suffered consecutive defeats against USA and India, the match against Canada was crucial for Pakistan's hopes of advancing in the tournament.

Chasing a modest target, Pakistan relied on Mohammad Rizwan's unbeaten 53 and Babar's 33 to secure the win in 17.3 overs. "It's good for us, we needed this win," Babar said at the post-match presentation. "We started well with the bowling, in the first six overs we knew we had to be up to the mark."

Babar admitted that they had aimed to surpass USA's net run rate by completing the chase before 14 overs, but the pitch made it difficult. "It was in our mind to win before 14 overs, but the pitch made it difficult," he explained.

India currently leads Group A with two wins, followed by USA with the same number of victories. Pakistan has climbed to third place with two points from three games, ahead of Canada and Ireland.

Canada's captain, Saad Bin Zafar, expressed disappointment with the result, citing the challenging batting conditions. "Definitely, it was a bit disappointing," he said. "We wanted to play a positive brand of cricket, but I think the wicket was not very helpful. It was difficult to bat early on - not a good toss to lose. We were about 25 to 30 runs short."

Tags: #T20WorldCup2024, #PakistanCricket, #BabarAzam, #MohammadRizwan, #CanadaCricket