Sports
Pakistan prevail in heart-stopper to seal final date with Sri Lanka
ASIA CUP 2022
Pakistan won a seesawing, low-scoring thriller to beat Afghanistan by one wicket in Sharjah, thus booking their date with Sri Lanka in the final of the 2022 Asia Cup. The result not only brought down the curtain on Afghanistan’s campaign but also on defending champions India’s.Having restricted Afghanistan to 129 for 6 after winning the toss, Pakistan would have expected smooth sailing but Afghanistan’s bowlers kept a lid on the scoring rate. After ten overs, Pakistan were 52 for 3.
Shadab Khan, promoted to No. 5, released the pressure with some lusty hits but Afghanistan kept picking up the wickets to stay in the contest. Still, it wasn’t until Fazalhaq Farooqi’s double-strike in the 18th over that Afghanistan had a real chance.
With 21 needed from two overs, Fareed Ahmad sent back Haris Rauf and the dangerous Asif Ali. That left Pakistan requiring 11 from the final over, with No. 10 Naseem Shah and No. 11 Mohammad Hasnain at the crease. But Farooqi missed his yorker twice in two balls, and Naseem dispatched both full tosses over long-off to seal the game with four balls to spare.
Earlier in the day, Naseem kicked things off for Pakistan with a tight first over, but Hasnain struggled with his line and length. Rahmanullah Gurbaz took advantage of that, hitting Hasnain for back-to-back sixes in the second over.
Hazratullah Zazai once again had a circumspect start. He was on 8 off ten balls before Haris strayed on the pads. Zazai duly tucked it to the fine-leg boundary before punching the next ball through covers for four. Rauf then bowled one short, which Zazai ramped towards deep third where Naseem spilled the chance.
Rauf wasn’t to be denied for long, though. Two balls later, he bowled Gurbaz, who tried to slog a length ball through midwicket but failed to connect. Zazai couldn’t capitalise on the dropped chance either, with Hasnain castling him with a slower ball in the fifth over.
Afghanistan were 43 for 2 after five overs but Pakistan’s spinners Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz put a brake on the scoring rate. In the next five overs, Ibrahim Zadran and Karim Janat managed just 29 runs. In an attempt to up the scoring rate, Janat took Nawaz on only to miscue a slog sweep to long-on.
Najibullah Zadran deposited Shadab over deep midwicket for a six, but he too holed out trying to repeat the shot later in the over. In the next over, the 15th of the innings, Naseem sent back Mohammad Nabi for a first-ball duck to ruin the Afghanistan captain’s 100th T20I.
Ibrahim seems to be playing the anchor’s role in this Afghanistan side but on the day was too slow even for that role. By the end of the 15th over, he had consumed 30 balls for just 26 runs. He did hit Shadab over covers for a six after that, but Rauf had him caught behind soon after for 35 off 37 balls.Rashid Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai threw their bats around in the death overs, but the Pakistan fast bowlers kept them largely quiet with clever use of the slower ball.
Babar Azam’s streak of low scores in the Asia Cup continued as Farooqi trapped him lbw for a first-ball duck. In the fourth over, a flash of brilliance from Najibullah saw the back of Fakhar Zaman, who pushed one in the covers for a quick single. But Najibullah charged at the ball, picked it up with his right hand, turned around and nailed a direct hit at the bowler’s end to find Fakhar short of his ground.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman was parsimonious with his quick googlies and carrom balls, conceding just five runs off his three powerplay overs. Afghanistan, though, needed regular wickets and Rashid didn’t disappoint. In his second over, he trapped Mohammad Rizwan lbw with a googly to leave Pakistan 45 for 3 in the ninth over.
With 72 required from nine overs, Shadab opened up. He first hit Nabi for a six and a four, and followed it with another six off Mujeeb. However, Fareed and Rashid gave away just nine in the next three overs to make it 39 needed from the last four.
By now, Shadab was struggling with what looked like a quadriceps issue. He swept the first ball of the 16th over, bowled by Rashid, for a six but was taken near short third when he went for another big hit on the next ball. Afghanistan’s celebrations, though, were short-lived as Asif slog-swept the following ball for another six.
Farooqi brought back Afghanistan in the game by dismissing Nawaz and Khushdil Shah in the 18th over. But Asif threatened to win it for Pakistan on his own, as he had done against the same opposition at the last T20 World Cup. With 18 needed from nine balls, he got one in the slot from Fareed and sent it over wide long-on for six.
Fareed banged the next one into the pitch, and Asif top-edged the hook to short fine leg. The pumped-up, in-the-face celebrations after the wicket resulted in Fareed and Asif almost getting physical before the two were separated.
Until then, Farooqi was the star of the match for Afghanistan but he failed to land his yorkers against Naseem, whose successive sixes led to frenzied celebrations in the Pakistan camp and a tearful exit for his opponents.
Brief Scores:
Afghanistan 129/6 in 20 overs (Ibrahim Zadran 35; Rauf 2-26, Shah 1-19) lost to Pakistan 131/9 in 19.2 overs (Shadab 36; Fareed Ahmad Malik 3-31, Fazalhaq Farooqi 3-31) by 1 wicket
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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