The left-arm pacer took two wickets in a span of three deliveries.
During the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 match between Pakistan and Ireland, Pakistan speedster Shaheen Afridi made an immediate impact with a double blow in the first over to send Ireland on the backfoot right at the start of the game.
Afridi breathed fire with the dismissals of Andrew Balbrine and Lorcan Tucker to reduce Ireland to 2 for 2 in the very first over.
Afridi opened the bowling up with a full, swinging delivery to Andrew Balbirnie who pushed it into the covers. On the second delivery, the left-arm pacer dragged his length back slightly which resulted in a second consecutive dot, beating the inside edge and hitting Balbirnie on his back leg, although sliding down leg.
With his third delivery, however, Shaheen bowled a blistering in-swinger that curved through the air and struck the top of off stump, beating Balbirnie’s attempted drive.
The next ball, aimed at the incoming batter Lorcan Tucker, was back of a length and edged past the leg stump for two runs, giving Ireland their first runs of the match.
The penultimate ball of the over brought success again as Tucker was lured into a drive with the ball angling away and catching his outside edge, sending it through to Mohammad Rizwan behind the stumps as Shaheen celebrated with his signature pose.
Speaking about the match, Pakistan bowlers dominated the match, managing to curb Ireland to a paltry total of 106 for 9 in 20 overs.
Shaheen Afridi and Imad Wasim were the pick of the Pakistani bowling attack, finishing with three scalps each.
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Ireland were reduced to 36 for 3 at one point of time but all-rounder Gareth Delany’s 19-ball 31 and tailender Joshua Little’s cameo of 22 helped Ireland cross the 100-run mark.
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