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Rewind the clock ten days, and most sports punters would have laughed you out of the room if you said Pakistan were going to be in the T20 World Cup final.
Opening their World Cup campaign with back to back losses, the men in green were virtually eliminated from the tournament inside the first week. However, strong wins over the Netherlands, South Africa and Bangladesh saw Pakistan gain a glimmer of hope, which became a genuine opening when South Africa slipped in their final must win match against the Netherlands.
Clawing their way into the semifinals and up against Group 1 winners New Zealand, Pakistan were not meant to win. Even the bookies didn’t think they would.
And yet, here we are—Pakistan, comprehensive seven wicket winners over New Zealand in the first semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2022.
Stuttering First Innings By New Zealand
Winning the toss, New Zealand opted to go for the formula which found them success in the group phase of this tournament: Bat first, post a healthy total, then roll the opposition for half of that.
Quite quickly, this plan came unravelled for New Zealand.
Finn Allen was lost in the first over to a perfect ball by Shaheen Shah Afridi, caught lbw for 4 off 3. Devon Conway and Kane Williamson were cautious throughout the power play, with Conway departing on the final ball, leaving the Black Caps at 38/2 after six overs. The team’s hero from earlier matches, Glenn Phillips, was unable to stay long either, falling soon after for single figures.
Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson then built a platform, taking New Zealand to 117/4 with four overs remaining. However, when Williamson again departed with his strike rate barely over 100, the Kiwis were unable to kick on and capitalize in the death overs. Mitchell was the stand out player with 53 from 35, but even he was unable to drag New Zealand to anything better than 152/4 from their 20 overs.
Shaheen Shah Afridi was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers, taking two wickets at an economy of 6.00, while the rest did their part keeping the scoring low.
Pakistan Grab the Bull By the Horns
Needing 153 runs from 20 overs to book a spot in the T20 World Cup final, Pakistan couldn’t have played an innings more different to New Zealand’s.
Openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan leapt out of the blocks, plundering runs left, right and centre at 10 an over throughout the powerplay. This continued through to 105/0 off 12.3 overs, with the fiery opening pair virtually winning the match single handedly in the space of an hour. Azam eventually fell for 53 from 42 in what was an emphatic return to form for the captain. Rizwan would follow a few overs later for 57 from 43, with Mohammad Haris stepping in to carry on where the openers left off, striking 30 from 26.
While the Kiwi bowlers largely failed to gain any traction against an aggressive Pakistani batting line up, there was one small window late in the game. After Azam and Rizwan set such a comfortable platform for their middle order, at one stage Pakistan found themselves needing 19 runs off 15 balls, with Shan Masood fresh to the crease and Mohammad Haris struggling on 17 from 19. Had Ferguson been able to close out his over, the equation would have read 19 off 12, with a foot in the door for New Zealand’s bowlers to get them home.
The following three balls went for four, six and one however, firmly slamming that door shut in the face of the Kiwis and confining them to a seven wicket loss and early flight home from Australia.
Pakistan now turn their eyes to the T20 World Cup final on Sunday, where they may well face a repeat of their opening match against India—a game which went down to the final ball.
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