Aaron Johnson shows the way
Johnson scored 52 off just 44 deliveries, and started hitting from the first ball itself. He looked the best batter from both sides, and became the only batter to score a half century in the first innings in New York.
But rest couldn’t follow…
After Johnson, the next best score for a Canadian batter was 13 (by Kaleem Sana). The team kept losing wickets on regular intervals, and after being 43/3 at the end of the sixth over, they could only score 106/7 at the end of 20 overs.
Pakistan pacers find their length, finally
After a wayward start, pacers Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Amir focused on bowling length and lack of a length a lot more, and they reaped high rewards. The four combined to pick up all the wickets that fell to the bowlers and broke the back of Canada’s innings.
Rizwan, Babar find their groove too
The ball come on to the bat much better during Pakistan’s innings, and despite Saim Ayub’s early wicket, Mohammad Rizwan (53 off 53) and Babar Azam (33 off 33) had a partnership of 63 runs in 62 deliveries that was enough to take Pakistan home.
Dilon Heyliger impresses
Big right arm pacer Heyliger (2/18) was the best bowler on show for Canada, and bowled a lot of deliveries in the pitch which proved hard to hit. He got two of three Pakistani wickets to fall, but required more support from the other bowlers to put Pakistan under pressure which never happened.
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