Pakistan vs Australia, ICC World Twenty20 – 2012

Oct 4, 2012 by     Comments Off on Pakistan vs Australia, ICC World Twenty20 – 2012    Posted under: Sports Buzz

Pakistan into the semi-finals.

Match Summary:

Pakistan: 149 for 6 (Jamshed 55, Starc 3-20)

Australia: 117 for 7 (Hussey 54*, Ajmal 3-17)

Result: Pakistan win by 32 runs.

The match of 2nd October was a do-or-die one for the Men in Green. After the nightmarish defeat against India, Pakistan needed to make a comeback against Australia in order to prevent them from being eliminated from the tournament. Before moving on to the post-match review of the match between Pakistan and Australia, let us take a quick recap of the match between Pakistan and India and team standings in the points table.

Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 78 runs helped India win by 8 wickets from Pakistan in a do-or-die match for India. Pakistan batted first but the entire batting line-up crumbled under pressure and wickets quickly fell one after the other. As a result, Pakistan was able to give a target of only 129 runs to India. India comfortably chased the target with 8 wickets in hands and 3 overs to spare.

Sri Lanka and West Indies from Group A had already qualified for the semi-final. Group B created a lot of confusion. The astonishing win against South Africa kept Pakistan on the second position in the group, the first position being held by Australia. The defeat against India considerably reduced Pakistan’s points, though they still remained on the second position.

The sensational and much-needed victory over Australia has improved Pakistan’s net run-rate. On the other hand, India winning by 1 run from South Africa doesn’t really matter as both teams, South Africa and India, are out of the tournament now. Pakistan and Australia have qualified for the semi-final from Group B. In the match between India and South Africa, India gave a target of 152 runs to South Africa; however, for Pakistan to qualify for the semi-final, South Africa needed to make 122 runs. Though South Africa lost the match, they were eventually successful in scoring 122 runs and helping Pakistan qualify for the semi-final. India’s miss became Pakistan’s gain.

Now, coming back to the match between Pakistan and Australia, the comeback that Team Pakistan made against Australia was outstanding. It all began with George Bailey winning the toss and electing to bowl first. The pitch was dry and was later helpful to spinners. The Pakistani Skipper, Mohammad Hafeez, and his teammates were prepared to go into the ground according to what they had planned.

A slow start from Pakistan raised some anticipation among the Australians. They thought that they would be able to restrict Pakistan to 130-140 runs, but eventually, the Men in Green were successful in giving a target of 150 runs to the Men in Yellow. An outstanding innings was played by Nasir Jamshed, while Kamran Akmal kept the scoreboard ticking along with him. Abdul Razzaq replaced Yasir Arafat in this match and was able to make a fair contribution of 22 runs with a strike rate of 129.41. Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Malik failed to contribute reasonably with the bat.

[Nasir Jamshed scored a terrific half-century of 55 runs.]

Matthew Wade (L) and Nasir Jamshed (R) ICC Twenty20 2012

[Jamshed shared a 79-runs stand with Kamran Akmal.]

Kamran Akmal (L) and Nasir Jamshed (R) ICC Twenty20 2012

George Bailey, the Australian Skipper, was happy from his bowlers as they restricted Pakistan to 149 runs. Michael Starc gave the best figures, 3-20. With Shane Watson in an immensely good form, the target seemed to be an easy one to chase for Team Australia; however, this was certainly not the case. Though they had to score only 112 runs to qualify for the semi-final, they were still unable to read the remarkable spin of Pakistani spinners and wickets kept falling at regular intervals, making even the score of 112 runs appear tough for them to chase.

[Shane Watson fell to the left-arm spinner Raza Hasan.]

Raza Hasan ICC Twenty20 2012

[Mohammad Hafeez then removed David Warner (LBW) to put Australia in trouble.]

Mohammad Hafeez ICC Twenty20 2012

The talented 19-year-old boy, Raza Hasan, did the job for Pakistan and removed the openers with the new ball. Shane Watson, after scoring 8 runs from 14 balls, eventually became the prey of Raza. The next bowler to attack was none other than the Skipper Hafeez himself. Hafeez was unlucky with one of his deliveries, but managed to remove David Warner for only 8 runs.  Ajmal, The Magician, then joined Hafeez and Raza by taking 3 crucial wickets for just 17 runs. This is an outstanding figure against the strong batting line-up of Australia. Despite losing quick early wickets, Michael Hussey remained a positive for the Aussies and eventually helped them qualify for the semi-finals.

Mohammad Hafeez was certainly in business in this match after his captaincy failed against the Indians. He led from the front, making sure that there were constant field changes according to the batsmen’s playing style and brought in the right bowler at the right time. This was, indeed, enough to prove that he is a good choice as a Captain. Hafeez was concentrating more on his spinners and left out the seamers. However, Umar Gul was trusted in the 17th over, and once again, he proved to be a good asset for Team Pakistan as he bowled 2 overs for only 11 runs. Shahid Afridi seemed off-color with the bat and bowl but contributed well in the field.

[Michael Hussey remained solid till the end.]

Michael Hussey (L) and Kamran Akmal (R) ICC Twenty20 2012

No dropped catches. No missed stumping or run-out chances. No overthrows. Team Pakistan was well in form against the Australians and won comprehensively by 32 runs, a margin successful enough to qualify for the semi-final. This sort of consistency is now consistently required from Hafeez. Team Green is now one of the top four teams in the world. It has to remain the same in order to qualify for the final. The rest is destiny.

Raza Hasan for his terrific spell of 2 wickets for 14 runs in 4 overs received the Man of the Match award.

Images Source: ESPN cricinfo. All photography rights are reserved to original photographers. Photographs are only used for the purpose of illustration and do not in any way belong to Youth Correspondent or its derivatives.

The Author

A crazy cricket fan in all the three formats. A patriotic Team Green Supporter and a fully biased Afridi and Hafeez fan.

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