Irish team lose out to Pakistan and the top 4 spot in a single match - The 42nd match of the World Cup 2015 was the last league match of the tournament. this was an important match in the Pool B as the 4th team to qualify for the cup was still undecided. Ireland needed to win this one against Pakistan in order to keep their place in the top 8 while Pakistan had already moved forward to the top 8 of the tournament. In this match after winning the toss Ireland decided to bat first.
The Irish team had to face a bad start as Paul Stirling lost his wicket up early. He scored only 3 runs before losing his wicket in the 4th over of the game leaving his team at a score of 11/1. William Porterfield and Ed Joyce had a partnership going between them as they took their team to a score of 56 in 12 overs. Ed Joyce lost his wicket in the next over bringing in Neil O’Brien. The Irish batsmen were unable to resist Pakistan bowling attack as they kept on losing wickets. Porterfield was the lone batsman who scored 107 runs while the rest of the players lost their way. He Irish team was bowled out at a score of 237 runs. Wahab Riaz took 3 wickets for Pakistan in this match.
It was a nice opportunity for the Pakistan team to have a batting practice before moving to the knock-out phase of the match and the openers made merry. They had a partnership of 120 runs for the 1st wicket. Ahmed Shehzad and Sarfraz Ahmed scored the runs in just 22 overs. Ahmed lost his wicket in the 23rd over after scoring 63 runs. Ireland gained their second chance as Haris Sohail lost his wicket soon scoring only 3 runs. This wicket proved to be a minor hiccup as Sarfraz Ahmed scored 101 runs in the match. Misbah-ul-Haq scored 39 runs but lost his wicket by hitting the wicket. The Pakistan team chased the score in 27 overs of the game. Sarfraz Ahmed won the man of the match for his outstanding batting performance. With this Irish team lose out of the top 4 spot due to the run rate margin comparison with West Indies.