Ireland beat Pakistan in a T20 for the first time
DUBLIN (AP) — Curtis Campher ran a leg bye off the penultimate ball for Ireland to stun Pakistan by five wickets in a Twenty20 on Friday.
In their first T20 matchup since 2009, and just a month out from meeting again in the T20 World Cup, the Irish scored 183-5 in reply to Pakistan’s 182-6.
Ireland set up its first T20 win over Pakistan by bowling well and fielding brilliantly. The home side engineered two run outs, and Campher and Barry McCarthy made two brilliant catches in the deep.
Fast bowler Craig Young conceded only 27 runs and dug out Babar Azam and Azam Khan in the same over as Pakistan got crucially bogged down in the middle overs.
Babar’s 43-ball 57 and opener Saim Ayub’s 29-ball 45 launched the visitors and Iftikhar Ahmed gave them a boost at the death with an unbeaten 37, including 17 in the last over.
But Ireland, coming off a 2-1 series loss to Afghanistan, was undeterred.