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Dubai. Australia defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets in the second semi-final on Thursday and made it to the final of the T20 World Cup for the second time. Batting first, after losing the toss at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Pakistan scored 176 for 4 in 20 overs. After this, the Australian team achieved the target by losing 5 wickets with 1 over remaining. Matthew Wade (41 *) hit 3 sixes in consecutive balls in the 19th over of pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi’s innings and gave Australia a ticket to the final. He was adjudged man of the match for this strong innings. Wade hit 2 fours and 4 sixes in his fiery innings of 17 balls. Marcus Stoinis scored 40 consecutive runs in 31 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes. Both shared an unbeaten partnership of 81 runs for the sixth wicket.
Australia needed 50 runs to win in the last 4 overs. In the 17th over of the innings, Marcus Stoinis hit sixes and fours off consecutive balls of Haris. In the next over, Matthew Wade hit an 82 meter long six over long on off Hasan Ali, which also completed the half-century partnership between the two. Wade also sent the last ball of the over for a four, which made 28 runs in 2 overs. Babar gave the ball to Shaheen Shah Afridi for the 19th over of the innings. 4 runs were scored in the first 3 balls of this over, which included a wide, but on the last three balls, Wade gave the team victory by hitting sixes.
Chasing the target of 177 runs, the Australian team got the first blow on the third ball of the innings and captain Aaron Finch (0) was sent lbw by Shaheen Afridi to the pavilion. After this, Mitchell Marsh and David Warner shared a 51-run partnership for the second wicket. This partnership was broken by Shadab Khan and Marsh (28) was caught by Asif Ali. Marsh hit 3 fours and 1 six in his innings of 22 balls. Steve Smith also could not do much and became the victim of Shadab after scoring 5 runs in 6 balls with the help of 1 four, due to which Australia’s score was 77 for 3 wickets.
Australia’s opener David Warner was frozen and it seemed that he would play a big innings in this important match but Shadab also walked him on the first ball of the 11th over. Rizwan took a catch behind the wicket. Although it seemed that the ball had not touched the edge of the bat, but Warner did not resort to DRS and returned to the pavilion. He missed the half-century by just 1 run. He hit 3 fours and as many sixes in his innings of 30 balls. All-rounder Glenn Maxwell was then caught by Shadab at the hands of Haris in the 13th over of the innings and half of Australia’s team returned to the pavilion till the score of 96.
Earlier, Pakistan made a strong score of 176 for 4 with half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan and return to form Fakhar Zaman. Rizwan scored 67 runs in 52 balls which included 3 fours and 4 sixes. He shared 71 for the first wicket with captain Babar Azam (39 runs off 34 balls) and 72 runs for the second wicket with Fakhar Zaman (55 not out off 32 balls, three fours, four sixes).
The Australian fast bowlers, especially Josh Hazlewood, had no control over their balls. He conceded 49 runs in 4 overs. Both the spinners of the team Adam Zampa (1 for 22 runs) and Glenn Maxwell (20 runs in three overs) bowled economical. Mitchell Starc (2 for 38) and Pat Cummins (1 for 30) also took wickets.
Babar and Rizwan again gave a good start to Pakistan. Babar was in rhythm from the beginning and he took the initiative to take the ball to the boundary line. Pakistan scored 47 runs for no loss in the powerplay, which is their highest score in the first 6 overs of this tournament.
Aaron Finch tried the spin attack in the form of Maxwell in the third over itself. Rizwan did not even open the account when David Warner left his difficult catch at the boundary line. Rizwan took advantage of this and hit a six on Josh Hazlewood. After this, however, Maxwell and Zampa created pressure, whose effect was clearly visible on the batsmen. Babar sweeps the slog under this pressure in the first over of leg-spinner Zampa and gave an easy catch to Warner at long on. He hit 5 fours in his innings.
When pressure was building on Pakistan, Rizwan completed 1000 runs in T20 Internationals in this calendar year by hitting a six at square leg on Zampa. He is the first cricketer in the world to achieve this feat. Starc’s bouncer hit the grille of Rizwan’s helmet but that did not shake his faith. He hit another six on Hazlewood in the 14th over to take the team’s score past 100 runs and then completed his third half-century in the tournament off 41 balls.
After spending enough time at the crease, Fakhar Zaman showed his attitude by hitting a straight six on Hazlewood. Rizwan also scored a six in this over. Rizwan caught the ball of Starc but Fakhar had returned in color. He hit three sixes on Starc but Asif Ali (0) and Shoaib Malik (1) could not do anything amazing. Fakhar completed his half-century in the last over of the innings with two consecutive sixes. He hit his fifty off 31 balls and returned unbeaten on 55 off 32 balls.
