Matthew Wade (41st to 17) seals the victory of five wickets with a left over by scoring three consecutive sixes as Australia pursues the goal of the 177 victory; David Warner scores the highest score with 49 and Marcus Stoinis scores 40th; Shadab Khan’s 4-26 to no avail for Pakistan, which scores 176-4 after being put
Australians Marcus Stoinis and Matthew Wade celebrate a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup semi-final
Australia ended Pakistan’s unbeaten streak to reach their first T20 World Cup final since 2010, winning their semi-final by five wickets in Dubai.
Pakistan set a challenging goal after Mohammad Rizwan’s fifties (67 of 52) and Fakhar Zaman (55 and not 32) helped Babar Azam’s team to 176-4.
Shadab Khan (4-26) gave Pakistan every chance to defend the total, reducing Australia to 96-5 despite David Warner’s 49 against 30, only to Marcus Stoinis (40th against 31) and Matthew Wade ( 41st against 17) to seal the victory with a spectacular position of 81 against 6.4 overs.
Wade closed the chase in style, sealing the victory with three straight Shaheen Shah Afridi to see Australia at home with an over to spare and earn his country the right to face New Zealand in Sunday’s final.
Pakistan had not reached a T20 World Cup final since 2009, when they lifted the trophy, and was busy from the start after being placed as Azam (39 of 34) and Rizwan shared a starting position of 71.
Rizwan lived dangerously on zero and 20, as opportunities eluded Warner and Adam Zampa respectively, although both opportunities were in the ‘hard’ category.
Babar drove classically on his way to becoming the fastest hitter in 2,500 international T20 runs, reaching the milestone in 62 innings, six faster than Virat Kohli of India.
The captain looked great and howled in frustration as he crushed Zampa (1-22) from long range, where Warner held the catch at head level thanks to a timely jump.
The wicket moved Rizwan, who recovered from a blow to the helmet of Mitchell Starc (2-38) to reach his half-century with 41 balls and dominate the first stages of the second wicket’s stands: Zaman scored 16 of the first 50 careers. .
Rizwan broke the third and fourth sixes of his hit in the 17th on the over, kicking Josh Hazlewood into the stands, but failed to repeat the dose against Starc and caught a catch midway through having passed 1,000 T20 runs in 2021.
Zaman’s response was to throw the next ball long and he was allowed to continue when Steve Smith bombed a catch midway when he wasn’t 40 for 24 balls.
It proved costly as the southpaw pitched Starc for two sixes in the last three balls of the inning, the second leading Zaman to fifty of 31 balls.
Shaheen Shah Afridi shook up Australia’s chase immediately by knocking out Aaron Finch’s first ball lbw with a brilliant inswinger and Mitchell Marsh (28 of 22) almost went off to the next installment, nearly undone by a yorker.
Warner had no choice but to go after Imad Wasim, scoring 14 on three balls, and Marsh pitched Haris Rauf’s first ball for six to help gain more momentum: Australia well placed at 51-1 late in the power play.
Marsh was determined not to let Shadab Khan settle, but his adventure proved his undoing when he finished off an attempted sweep of the second roulette ball.
Pakistan turned to Mohammad Hafeez, who conceded seven on his first pitch: a two-rebound no-ball that Warner savagely attacked over the midwicket rope.
Australia’s hopes were hit hard by a double strike from Shadab, who eliminated Steve Smith by five, another major culprit, before Warner caught him early in the 11th inning.
When Stoinis came in at 89-4, replays suggested that Warner might not have made contact with the ball on his way to Rizwan’s gloves, the batter chose not to check.
Shadab quickly had his fourth when Glenn Maxwell made a deep-square reverse sweep, but the game remained in the balance as Stoinis hit the ball cleanly, hitting two sixes before he and Matthew Wade tied for 50 runs on 32 deliveries.
With a necessary 20 of 10 balls, Hasan Ali dropped Wade in midfield and the left-hander made him pay by scooping Afridi’s next ball for six.
There was more to come, much to Pakistan’s despair, as Wade cleared in the middle of the street before sealing the matter with another shovel beyond the rope.
Watch live coverage of the ICC T20 World Cup final live on Sky Sports Cricket starting at 1pm on Sunday.
