Mohammad Amir's 3 best spells in T20 World Cups ft. 2024 vs Canada
Pakistan defeated Canada by seven wickets to finally get their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign underway at the Nassau County International Stadium in New York on Tuesday, June 11.
Pakistan lost to the USA and India in their first two games of the tournament and were desperately looking forward to improving their performances against the Canadians to boost their momentum.
The Men in Green have kept their hopes for a Super Eight spot alive and will hope that they can defeat Ireland in their next game to give themselves the best chance of making it to the Super Eight.
Mohammad Amir was the star for the Pakistan bowling unit on Tuesday, returning figures of a stellar 2/13 in his quota of four overs. The left-arm seamer conceded runs at an economy of just 3.20.
Amir, whose career was riddled with controversy owing to the spot-fixing scandal that he got involved in alongside Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif in 2010, has found redemption of sorts by making a comeback for Pakistan.
In this listicle, we take a look at the three best spells of Amir in T20 World Cups.
#3 2-13 vs Canada, 2024
Amir was at his imperious best against Canada in a must-win game for Pakistan at the ongoing T20 World Cup in New York on Tuesday. Canada batted first in this game and were restricted to a lowly 106/7 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. This was largely due to the influence that Amir wielded with the ball.
The seamer brought the ball back into right-handers and even troubled southpaws with his ability to get it to straighten after pitching. He ended up with brilliant figures of 2/13 at the end of his quota of four overs and left the Canadian batters scratching their heads in awe.
#2 3-35 vs Australia, 2010
Amir came good for Pakistan in the semi-final of the 2010 World T20 (as the T20 World Cup was known back then) which was played at Gros Islet, Saint Lucia.
While this game is often remembered for Michael Hussey's heroics in the chase for Australia, one overlooks the contribution that Amir made with the ball in hand for Pakistan.
The Shaheens batted first and put up a massive total of 191-6 in their quota of twenty overs, with siblings Kamran and Umar Akmal striking half-centuries.
In reply, Australia seemed to be down in the dumps at 105/5 by the 13th over but Hussey stepped up to score an unbeaten 60 off 24 balls to seal the deal for his team.
Amir, who had taken 3/35 in his four overs, bowled a rather expensive 19th over to hand the momentum over to the Aussies.
#1 3-23 vs Australia, 2010
The best performance that Amir has put up in a T20 World Cup encounter was against Australia (again) in the same 2010 edition of the competition.
This one was a group-stage encounter at Gros Islet in which the Kangaroos batted first and put up a mammoth 191 on the board at the end of their 20 overs. Amir picked up 3/23 and helped his teammates bowl their opponents out.
Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, who was an excellent proponent of the doosra also picked up three wickets of his own.
In response, Pakistan failed to come to terms with the raw pace exhibited by Australia's Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait and ended up being bowled out for 157.