Australia beat Pakistan, set up final with New Zealand
Shaheen Afridi walks past Marcus Stoinis (R) and Matthew Wade celebrating after winning the T20 World Cup semi-final in Dubai on Thursday. AP
Mohammed Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter
A late blitz of 17-ball 41 by Mathew Wade helped Australia pull off a heist against Pakistan in a topsy-turvy semi-final of the T20 World Cup in Dubai on Thursday.
Shadab Khan’s 4-26 had pushed Australia on the backfoot but Marcus Stoinis (40) and Wade added 81 runs for the sixth wicket in just 6.4 overs to steer Australia home for the loss of five wickets with an over to spare.
Needing 177 to win, Australia got off a nightmarish start as they lost the wicket of captain Aaron Finch with just one run on the board. But David Warner and Mitchell Marsh steadied the innings with a 51-run partnership before Shadab got into act.
He broke the dangerous-looking partnership by getting rid of Marsh to bring reprieve into Pakistan camp. In his next over, he got rid of Steven Smith which was followed by the dismissals of Glenn Maxwell and David Warner, who had kept the chase alive with a fighting 49.
Australia were tottering at 96/5 and needed someone to play a big knock and pull them out of the rut. With five wickets down and 79 needed off 7.4 overs, almost everybody had written Australia off but Wade and Stoinis had different plans.
They kept their cool in the game of nerve and took the match deep, keeping Australia in hunt. Both the batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking to bring Australia closer to the target. When they needed 48 runs in last four overs, Stoinis flexed his muscles and took 13 runs off the 17th over, bowled by Haris Rauf, with the help of a six and four keeping the hopes alive.
In the next over, Wade started to cut loose and collected 15 runs to boost the hopes of a come-from-behind victory. Australia needed 20 runs off the last two overs. Afridi started with a dot to mount the pressure.
On the second ball, Stoinis took a leg bye, which brought Wade on the strike. Wade pulled off Afridi and ball went high up in the air but a running Hasan Ali dropped a simple catch as Australia added two more runs to their total.
In the next three deliveries, Wade hit three consecutive sixes and to put all the doubts to rest and finished the game with one over to spare.
Earlier, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam played with resolute innings and shared a blistering half-century partnership to give a blazing start to the Pakistan.
They played diligently and kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles, hitting boundaries occasionally. They even did not give half-chances to Australian bowlers and added 47 runs in the power play, which by far, turned out to be the most productive for Pakistan in the tournament.
The key to Pakistan’s success in the tourney has been their consistent opening partnership, which has yielded 411 runs in six matches at an average of 68.5 runs in every game.
An average opening partnership of 68 runs is considered as good even in the Test cricket, and in Twenty20 it is an impeccable record. Finch had used all the embellishments in his repertoire but none of them had proven to be effective against the pair of Babar, who were marching relentlessly with their sights set on their goal firmly.
Eventually, Finch restored to his most lethal weapon Adam Zampa, who claimed 5-19 against Bangladesh for the best bowling figure of the tournament.
He did the job. The wily spinner choked the flow of runs and conceded only seven runs in his first two overs. The choke prompted Babar, who is the highest scorer of the tournament, to take an aerial route.
However, this time around Pakistani skipper failed to connect it and was caught on the long-on by Warner, bringing the marathon partnership to an end.
Fakhar Zaman, who had not done anything significant in the tournament so far, was due to play a big innings and he clicked when it mattered the most.
Zaman and Rizwan added 72 runs in the next seven overs, which yielded almost 10 an over, taking the score to 143/2. Rizwan reached the second fifty of the tournament with a single off Cummins in 41 deliveries.
After the dismissal of Babar, Rizwan kept the momentum going with Zaman. Both the players hit pristine cover drives, elegant straight drives, powerful pull shots and stole cheeky singles and doubles to take the innings forward.
At one stage, Pakistan looked set for total of 190 plus but they stuttered in the last three overs and lost quite a few wickets in quick succession as Australia clawed back into the game.
Pakistan lost the wicket of Rizwan, Asif Ali and Shoaib Malik with in a space of 20 runs in two overs. Starc had Rizwan caught by Smith and rattled the stumps of Malik while Cummins got rid of Asif Ali, who failed to open the account.
Cummins bowled a magnificent penultimate over under pressure to bring Australia back into the game as he conceded only three runs and took Asif’s wicket.
Zaman hit two consecutive sixes to get to his fifty in the last over off Starc and collected 16 runs to propel the score to 176/4.
