Monday, November 7, 2022

T20 World Cup: Pakistan's road to semi-finals — from early exit scare to crucial wins and help from rain gods

Just over a week ago, social media was flooded with memes on Pakistan’s possible early exit from the T20 World Cup. Former Pakistan cricketers had bashed the side and the board for the performance that the side had put up initially.

They had lost to India and Zimbabwe in the first two matches on the trot and were staring at an early elimination. But there was still some hope and quite a few permutations and combinations for the Asian side.

And it worked for them.

Pakistan are now going into the semi-finals of this year’s T20 World Cup. They turned the odds in their favour.

We take a look at the Babar Azam-led Pakistan team’s journey in the competition so far.

India vs Pakistan

Pakistan had put up 159/8 in 20 overs in Melbourne after Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed scored individual half-centuries.

The bowlers then took the onus and ripped apart the Indian batting unit to leave them struggling at 31/4.

But Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya had other plans as they chipped in with a 113-run stand for the fifth wicket.

The high-voltage encounter got more intensified in the final phase of the game. India needed 31 from the final two overs when Kohli showed his class and hammered two consecutive sixes against Haris Rauf on the last two balls of the 19th over.

The equation was now down to 16 needed off 6 and Babar handed the ball to Nawaz who had a tough day at the office. But the spinner removed Pandya on the very first ball and gave only three runs in the first three balls.

But he then made a massive mistake. Nawaz bowled a waist-height no-ball to Kohli who dispatched it for a six. The bowler then followed it with a wide before India eventually got three byes on the free hit.

India needed two off two with Dinesh Karthik on strike. The right-handed batter stepped out but missed it completely to get stumped out leaving the team in a spot of bother again.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the next man in and probably the most cool-headed man present at the stadium at that point. Nawaz made another blunder of bowling a wide going down the leg. The equation was now 1 needed from the last ball.

The Indian batter kept his cool and played the final ball over mid-off to get the winning runs. India won by 4 wickets.

Kohli remained unbeaten on 82 off 53.

Pakistan vs Zimbabwe

This probably was one of the biggest upsets in this edition of the T20 World Cup. Pakistan bowlers had done their job well after restricting Zimbabwe to 130/8 in 20 overs.

But the batters had a disappointing run as the side lost wickets at regular intervals and were eventually restricted to 129/8 in 20 overs.

Shan Masood showed some mettle as he scored 44 off 38 but his efforts weren’t enough to take the side home. Pakistan lost to Zimbabwe by 1 run.

Pakistan vs Netherlands

Pakistan finally got off the mark after beating the Netherlands by 6 wickets while chasing a target of 92 runs. Babar Azam’s troops restricted the Dutch at 91/9 in 20 overs and later chased down the target in the 14th over.

Rizwan top-scored with 49 off 39.

Pakistan vs South Africa

The clash between Pakistan and South Africa certainly changed the equation and qualification scenarios. Moreover, rain once again played a spoilsport but it did work in Pakistan’s favour.

Batting first the Asian side posted 185/9 in 20 overs. In reply, the Proteas were 69/4 in 9 overs when the play was halted due to rain and the target was eventually reduced to 142 in 14 overs.

South Africa needed 73 from the final five overs but they were restricted to 108/9. Shaheen Afridi bagged a three-fer as Pakistan took away two crucial points.

Pakistan vs Bangladesh

Pakistan now had four points from four games while South Africa had five as one of their matches was also called off due to rain.

The Temba Bavuma-led side had to win the last group stage match against the Netherlands to march ahead. But for Pakistan, the equation was now a bit tricky.

The situation was that South Africa’s defeat against the Netherlands would have given Pakistan as well as Bangladesh a fair chance for making the qualification as both the sides had four points each and were slated to lock horns with each other in their last respective group stage game.

And it did happen.

South Africa lost to the Netherlands and handed a genuine chance to both Pakistan and Bangladesh to qualify for the semis.

Pakistan didn’t let this slip away as Shaheen Afridi stepped up on the occasion, and scalped four wickets against Bangladesh. Pakistan restricted them to 127/8 in 20 overs and then chased down the target by 5 wickets. Pakistan will now play New Zealand in the semi-final on Wednesday in Sydney.

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