Pakistan Through To The Finals Of T20 World Cup

June 19, 2009

Pakistan Through To The Finals Of T20 World Cup

It was another day of surprises at the T20 World Cup, as Pakistan, the unquestioned underdogs of the tournament vanquished S.A, to enter the finals. This is Pakistan’s 2nd consecutive appearance in the finals of the T20 mega event. Last year they lost to India thanks to a blunder from Misbah-ul-Haq.

The daring promotion of Shahid Afridi to the No. 3 slot disrupted its bowling strategy; from the length of the bowlers to the management of the overs by skipper Graeme Smith. The fling of the dice worked for Pakistan. Riding on Afridi’s 34-ball 51, Pakistan progressed to a challenging 149 for four in the first semifinal of the ICC World Twenty20 at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Both sides traded heavy blows. Pakistan smashed two fours in the opening over, but then lost Shahzaib Hasan, caught by Roelof van der Merwe off Wayne Parnell to just the second ball he faced. Pakistan then scored at a modest rate of a run a ball until the 11th over, when it took 18 runs off Johan Botha, including four consecutive fours by Afridi. Afridi reached 50 from 33 balls in the 12th over but was then out off J.P. Duminy’s first delivery at the start of the 13th.Having gone 29 balls without a boundary, Malik tried to accelerate the scoring, but the four he struck off Duminy in the 15th over was the last of the innings as South Africa’s disciplined attack reined in the Pakistan batsmen.

Pakistan supporters, who made up the majority of the crowd, created a deafening noise as the game began in explosive fashion but were left stunned as it ended in a fizz…..

For the Proteas, everything began in a nervous fashion and it was once again Afridi who ran riot, this time with his bowling skills. Gibbs, who made 5, was beaten by the quicker delivery from Afridi that went straight on to knock off the stumps. (46-2, 7)

In his next over, Afridi claimed another big scalp in the form of AB de Villiers, who played on to his stumps for 1. De Villiers was dropped by wicketkeeper Akmal off an outside edge the previous delivery but that did not deter Afridi, who struck a ball later. (50-3, 8.3)

Afridi had made the difference with the bat and now was making a vital contribution with the ball too. He finished with two for 16 in four overs. South Africa were 73 for three after 13 overs, and faced a stiff task of scoring another 77 runs in the last seven overs. The pressure paid off in the next over when Kallis holed out Ajmal straight to Malik at long-on and was dismissed for 64 from 54 deliveries, inclusive of seven boundaries and a six. (111-4, 17.1)

He added 63 runs in 51 deliveries for the fourth wicket with Duminy, but failed to produce the big shots when needed. But it was just not Duminey’s day as Pakistan managed to keep the Proteas at bay and won the match with their hard work and perseverance.

The Proteas on the other hand are left with the title of the “chokers”…..