Dubai: What a match we had at the Ring of fire, the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, with Australia winning a thriller against Pakistan in the second semi-final in the T20 World Cup.
It had everything from the start to the finish with Mohammed Rizwan not sure if he would take the field after being in hospital last night but making himself available and batting like a champion scoring a magnificent 67 to help take Pakistan to a healthy 176 at the end of their innings.
Pakistan restricted
What Australia did was they never let Pakistan off the hook and ensured that it was a par score with Adam Zampa and Pat Cummins bowling superbly to ensure that things did not get out of hand and restricted Pakistan to below 200. And when Australia batted, it was once again Shaheen Shah Afridi who bowled a brilliant first over and should have had two wickets but was unlucky because of the umpires call going in the favour of Mitchell Marsh when he looked like he was trapped LBW.
Australia were going great with David Warner until Shadab Khan showed why leg spinners are match winners and almost won the game for team Pakistan by picking four priceless wickets and had Australia on the ropes at 96/5 and it was Pakistan’s game to win but Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoins had other ideas and grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat to send Australia to their second T20 finals.
Knockout nemesis
Pakistan had come in to this tournament without any expectations but played brilliantly from the first game to first beat India and then win all their games comprehensively but in the end they came across their ICC knockout nemesis Australia. They will hold their heads high as this young team showed tremendous application and hunger and probably were a touch unlucky to be on the losing side but I am sure their time will come sooner rather than later.
Well played team Pakistan.
