‘Thank You Netherlands’ read a fan placard, but with four must-win victories on the trot, Pakistan have created that aura of destiny around themselves ahead of Sunday’s final in Melbourne.
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The first ball of the first T20 World Cup semi-final went horribly wrong for Pakistan. Shaheen Shah Afridi delivered a 124 kph full floater in search for swing and Finn Allen clubbed this gentlest of gifts down the ground for four. That was the only time New Zealand were ahead in the game, for the briefest of moments. Pakistan’s outstandingly high-quality attack shut them out so clinically thereafter that even though New Zealand lost only four wickets, they managed to score just 152. The Pakistan batting felt right at home on the slow Sydney pitch; the return to form of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan was the last piece of the Pakistan juggernaut falling into place as they marched into the final with a straightforward seven-wicket win.
From the second ball of the game, when Afridi hit Allen on the pad – off a massive inside edge, as it turned out on New Zealand’s review against Marais Erasmus’ lbw verdict – a sense of inevitability seemed to descend on proceedings. Denied the first time, Afridi went full and fast yet again, and off the third delivery, there was no doubt about the lbw. Allen had famously gone after another left-armer Mitchell Starc’s full lengths in the opening match of the Super 12 stage. Starc had kept bowling full and was punished; Afridi didn’t pull back his lengths either, but with the swing he generated, was rewarded instead.
A tense Powerplay ensued. Pakistan kept calling up one gold-standard fast bowler after another, and none of them offered any escape on a surface that Shaun Pollock had said during his pitch report would suit Pakistan more than New Zealand. New Zealand had to create opportunities if they wanted the scoreboard to move. Devon Conway tried doing that, walking down the track and lifting Haris Rauf over the infield. New Zealand still could not get beyond run a ball.
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The pressure to squeeze out every possible run, any possible run, made Conway go for a risky single off the last ball of the Powerplay from Rauf. Shadab Khan collected on the bounce at mid-off and rifled in a direct hit to catch Conway short.
The juggernaut was rolling now, the moves were coming off in succession. The left-hander Conway’s exit brought the much criticised left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz in. The Asia Cup hero was slammed for his final-over against India in this world cup. Glenn Phillips tried to whip one into the leg side, but it gripped and turned, and popped straight back to Nawaz. New Zealand were 49 for 3, and eight overs had already gone past. Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell would do their rebuilding act, putting on 67 in the next eight.
At 116 for 3 going into the last four, New Zealand looked like they were at least going to get around the par 160-ish. The issue facing them was the same as it was in the Powerplay, though. Just how do you get a big over or two against this bunch of fast bowlers? That had required even Virat Kohli to play an all-time great innings.
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And sure enough, yet another timely incision in New Zealand’s armour arrived. Second ball of the 17th, Williamson got down to play the scoop, Afridi saw that, slowed it down considerably, and hit timber.
The short square boundaries at the SCG barely came into the picture, as Pakistan just didn’t give New Zealand the width. They also threw themselves around in the field, a certain marker that a Pakistan side is on the upswing.
Despite Mitchell getting the odd boundary away, and running between the wickets so hard he ran himself out of breath, New Zealand just scraped past 150.
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Pakistan’s bowlers have limited opposition batting line-ups to 160, 130, 91, 108, 127 and 152 in this tournament. It was the batting that had imploded against Zimbabwe, and for a while, had threatened to bring about an early end to their campaign against South Africa. Babar Azam had made 0, 4, 4, 6, and his 25 against Bangladesh has to find a place among the scratchiest efforts in this format.
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But as with everything Pakistan on the night, Babar was suddenly purring too. The Powerplay has acquired added importance in Sydney as batting has tended to become harder against the older, softer ball. And Rizwan and Babar were out to kill the game in the Powerplay itself.
New Zealand were surprisingly off-colour with the ball and in the field, as if the fight had long gone out of them. A hint of an opportunity appeared fourth ball from Trent Boult, but Conway put down a tough diving chance with the big gloves off Babar. Out came the drives, cuts, pulls, flicks, from both ends, as any remaining resistance was snuffed out of New Zealand.
New Zealand had crawled to 38 for 2 in the Powerplay, Pakistan would surge to 55 for 0. Clear shades of their game against India from the 2021 T20 World Cup.
The middle overs felt like an ODI chase in the UAE. Pakistan would hang back and hack the spinners around, even though they were getting some purchase off the track.
Rizwan later said he and Babar had wanted to go after the new ball considering scoring became progressively tougher, and one of them wanted to bat long. They did all that and more, putting on their ninth century partnership in T20Is. No other pair has more than five.
There was still some time for Mohammad Haris to serve another reminder of his potential. With 19 needed 15, he made room to crack a Lockie Ferguson leg-stump yorker between extra cover and mid-off for four, and walloped the following short ball deep into the stands beyond long leg. In the stands, the fans sang Pakistan’s unofficial anthem: ‘Dil Dil Pakistan …’
