PAKISTAN'S dream of winning their second World Cup in T20 internationals was dashed on Thursday (11) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium as Australia came back strongly to beat them by five wickets to set up a title clash with trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand at the same venue on Sunday (14).
The Asian side, which has not made the finals since their trophy win in 2009, put up a solid show with the bat to post 176 for 4 in 20 overs after Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bowl. In-form wicket-keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan (67 off 52 balls) and captain Babar Azam (39 off 34) gave Pakistan a good start by putting on 71 runs for the first wicket. A dashing knock from No.3 batsman Fakhar Zaman (55 not out off 32) powered Pakistan to the 170-plus total.
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Australian pacer Mitchell Starc took two wickets and Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa claimed one wicket each.
The Kangaroos, who have never won the world cup in the shortest format and ended as the runners-up once, were off to a bad start with Finch falling in the very first ball that he faced from speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi. Opener David Warner (49 off 30) kept Australia in the hunt but when he fell in the 11th over with the scorecard reading 89 for 4, the chase looked to be going haywire. Steven Smith (5 off 6) and Glenn Maxwell (7 off 10) failed to impress with the bat and Australia lost half their side for 96 in the 13th over. Spinner Shadab Khan (4 for 26) ran through the Australian top order.
But Marcus Stoinis (40 not out off 31) and keeper-batter Matthew Wade (41 not out off 17) kept Australia in the hunt and the latter’s explosive hitting towards the end drove Australia home with one over to spare, like New Zealand did against England on Wednesday (10) night. Wade was adjudged the man of the match.
It is the second time that Pakistan have failed to defend a total against Australia in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup. In the 2010 edition in the Caribbeans, they scored 191 runs batting first but yet could not win the game.
The wins for New Zealand and Australia meant the T20 World Cup will get a new champion this time since neither of them has won it before.
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