Pak live to fight another day

New York, June 11

Pakistan’s batters finally rose to the occasion to beat Canada by seven wickets in their must-win Group A match and give their campaign a boost in the T20 World Cup here today.

Opting to bowl, Pakistani bowlers, led by Mohammed Amir, produced a unified show to restrict Canada for a modest 106/7.

While chasing 107 to win, opener Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam took Pakistan over the line with 15 balls to spare.

Rizwan and Babar shared 63 runs for the second wicket to set up the platform for the win.

Babar made a run-a-ball 33 with one six and a four, while Rizwan once again played the role of an anchor, scoring 53 not out from as many deliveries with two fours and a six.

Pakistan did appear to be making heavy weather of a modest chase when they had crawled to 28/1 in the powerplay with the Canadian seamers doing a fine job.

However, it became much easier when Canada spinners came into the attack and with their vast experience, Babar and Rizwan brought the equation down with deft rotation of the strike and punishing the bad balls.

Earlier, Aaron Johnson was the only bright spot for Canada. On a two-paced wicket with the occasional uneven bounce making the rest of their batters struggle, Johnson waged a lone battle for Canada with a 44-ball 52, studded with four sixes and fours as the Pakistani bowlers kept chipping away with wickets.

Brief scores: Canada: 106/7 in 20 overs (Johnson 52; Amir 2/13, Rauf 2/26); Pakistan: 107/3 in 17.3 overs (Rizwan 53*, Babar 33; Heyliger 2/18). — PTI