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Cricket

Pakistan defeats New Zealand by 7 wickets to reach the T20 World Cup final

Pakistan rarely made an error and dominated from start to end in their World Cup semi-final match against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

They will compete in the World Cup final on Sunday against either England or India. If it is the former, they will be on pace to repeat their spectacular World Cup run from 30 years ago, when they came back from the brink to overcome the Kiwis in the semis and England in the final.

They had a horrible start to the day as Babar Azam lost the toss and was compelled to field first instead of batting. Then their standout bowler Shaheen Afridi was smashed for a four on the opening ball of the over. However, from then on, it was all Pakistan.

Pakistan reduced New Zealand to a modest total of 152 for 4 thanks to the extraordinary and somewhat surprising precision of their fielders, which resulted in catches and direct hits.

After sloppy defeats to India and Zimbabwe previously in the competition, Pakistan was a highly disciplined squad in the crucial semi-final today.

The bowlers struck the correct length again and over, the skipper shuffled his options smartly, and the fielders scarcely put a foot wrong during the 20 overs.

After being struck for a four on the opening ball of the innings, Shaheen and Co fought back hard, got a breakthrough early, and kept the pressure on.

They had reduced the Kiwis to 49 for 3 when Williamson (46) and Daryl Mitchell (46) saved the innings with a 68-run stand. Shaheen was the standout of the bowlers, with his wickets of Allen in the first over and Williamson in the second being two crucial turning points.

Babar and Co got everything right, from bowling to fielding to strategic planning, as the Kiwis finished a distant second. With a goal of 153, the out-of-form combo of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan was anticipated to struggle. Those fears were swiftly dispelled as Pakistan’s openers thrashed the Kiwi pacers.

After a tournament of hardships, both great openers got rolling when it counted the most and both produced half centuries. The two did not remain to the end, but their body of work was sufficient to allow the team’s later hitters to comfortably cross the finish line.

Williamson, Kiwi Captain: “I thought Pakistan played nicely and then we managed to wrestle back some momentum. At the halfway mark we thought we had a competitive total but disappointing not to make Pakistan work harder. A tough pill for us to swallow, we certainly pride ourselves in a number of areas, strengths of ours, and didn’t quite do that today. Fielding was okay…but I think if we want to be honest, we wanted to be more disciplined with our areas. Like I said, Pakistan deserved to win. Throughout the round-robin stages, we played nicely and today we weren’t at our best. Having said that, we know the fickle nature of T20 cricket.”

Babar, Pakistani Captain: “The way the team performed in the last three matches…. Thanks to the crowd, feels like we are playing at home. We had a good start in the first six overs and later on we had a good spin attack. The fast bowlers also finished very well. We decided we’re going to do hard work and attack these guys, and when we finish the powerplay, one of the guys will go deep, because obviously pitch was tricky, and Alhamdulillah, Allah helped us and we succeeded. I think he is a young guy and showing his aggression. We will enjoy this moment, but at the same time we will focus on the final.”

Rizwan, Man of the Match: “Obviously, me and Babar decided to go after the new ball and the pitch was difficult. When we finished powerplay, the discussion was one of the guys to go deep. The guys have worked hard and we have always believed.”

Matthew Hayden, Pakistan Team Mentor: “Fantastic. Tonight was very special and a few things came out for us. Everyone will talk about Babar and Rizwan, but that bowling attack did an unbelievable job. Sky is the limit and both of these guys have done it for Pakistan for a number of years and I also want to mention Haris as well. He faces every fast bowler in the nets and smashes them.  On this surface, the bowlers had to adapt and we got Shaheen back up and running. Once it starts to reverse-swing, boy! he’s hard to handle. Haris can bowl 150kph. I’d like to face India, pretty much because of the spectacle. It’s unthinkable.”

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