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Pakistan bowling is finally coming off well in this Championship. The trio of Umer Gul, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal have been exemplary against New Zealand. The trio will be again in the limelight when Pakistan faces Ireland today.

Abdul Razzaq’s induction into the team has strengthened the bowling as Pakistan pushes for a big win against Ireland to better their net run rate. Razzaq’s (economy rate of 4.86) subtle changes in pace makes it difficult to score against him. Afridi and Ajmal choke the scoring rate of oppositions by picking wickets at regular intervals (14 wickets between them at an economy rate of under 6). Umar Gul’s deceptive use of yorkers and top notch swing bowling has made him the first bowler in T20 international to take a fiver. However, Ireland batted with lot of guts against Sri Lanka. If they show the same courage against Pakistan today, Ireland can make the most of the opportunity of being in the second round of a big-ticket tournament. 

Bowling Quartet of Pakistan

For Pakistan, the top order batsmen needs to supplement the team’s168 Batting Momentum (BM) to force a victory over Ireland by a comfortable margin to bolster their net run rate, a parameter that will have a bearing on which team qualifies for the semis.