If the first four balls of over No.17 tilted the game in New Zealand’s favour in Abu Dhabi the other night, those in the penultimate over in Dubai on Thursday confirmed Australia as the other finalists of this year’s T20 World Cup.
In a matter of just a few minutes, it was heartbreak for Pakistan as they had done almost everything they could to defend a highly competitive total of 176/4 in conditions not ideal for bowling.
The stage seemed set for Pakistan to register their sixth straight win in the competition. Mohammad Rizwan (67), Fakhar Zaman (55 not out) and Shadab Khan (4/26) did brilliantly to make the going tougher for Australia in their run chase, which never looked easy despite conditions getting easier for batting in the second half at the Dubai International Stadium.
The deadliest weapon in the Pakistan bowling attack, Shaheen Shah Afridi, who bowled a mind-blowing first over to trap rival captain Aaron Finch plumb in front and almost had Mitchell Marsh as well, was given to bowl the penultimate one with Australia needing 22 from the last two.
On target with the first two deliveries, Shaheen and the rest of the Pakistan team felt they had the set Matthew Wade when the wicketkeeper-batsman mistimed one off the next ball. But Hasan Ali, at deep mid-wicket, failed to hold on to it.
That fetched Wade a couple. Australia still had 18 to get off nine balls, but little did Pakistan and of course, Hasan, know that they had not just dropped the catch, but would soon lose the match as well. A scoop, a whip over mid-wicket and then a scoop again. That’s how Wade treated Pakistan’s spearhead Shaheen with all three of the strokes fetching him and Australia the maximum runs, as they wrapped up the game by five wickets with an over to spare. Much like their Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand had against England on Wednesday.
Game awareness
The otherwise under-rated Wade showed good game and situation awareness, knowing the left-arm quick would look to bowl the yorker. Shaheen erred a tad in terms of execution with those three balls, but Wade was smart enough to go a bit deeper into the crease and more importantly, had the guts to execute those scoop shots, something that the opponents in Pakistan’s previous matches didn’t dare to.
No wonder it would have been a different ballgame altogether had Hasan not spilled that catch, or if David Warner had thought of taking the review after being given out caught behind, particularly as television replays showed there wasn’t any edge off his bat. Warner (49) was playing a brilliant innings under enormous pressure and his dismissal was much against the run of play.
The game started to drift away from Australia, especially as the likes of Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell struggled to read Shadab’s top-spin. But Marcus Stoinis (40 not out) displayed great temperament right throughout his stay that kept Australia in the hunt. Apart from dropping the catch, Hasan was ordinary with the ball too, as was Haris Rauf. Maybe the pressure that a semi-final brings got the better of some of the Pakistani players. That said, Babar Azam and his men deserve kudos for being the team to watch out for till this defeat. Yet, all their efforts weren’t enough.
