Pakistan 128 for 5 (Rizwan 32, Haris 31) beat Bangladesh 127 for 8 (Shanto 54, Afridi 4-22, Shadab 2-30) by five wickets
A team under pressure. A captain refusing to give up. The odds piling up against them. And then one fine day, the stars align.
Pakistan cranked up the deja vu in Adelaide on Sunday as they sailed into the T20 World Cup semi-finals. If anyone is still working on time travel, please follow this cricket team. They’ve made it 1992 again.
Bangladesh were 70 for 1 at one stage. Then they lost their captain and could manage only 127 for 8. Advantage Pakistan.
Wasim Akram lite
Shaheen Afridi admitted he’s not 100% at this tournament. Someone should splice that press conference video with the ball he bowled to Mosaddek Hossain. Left-arm. High pace. Around the wicket. Reverse swing. Bowled ‘iiiiimmmmmmm!
The good, the bad and the collapse
Najmul Hossain Shanto (54 off 48) was smiling. His leading edge had pretty much bunny-hopped for four over point. That was the first over. Back when Bangladesh had gained a sizeable advantage batting first on a used pitch where shot-making got harder as time went on.
Even halfway through, they were sitting pretty. Then it happened.
Shadab Khan looped one up over the batter’s eyeline. Shakib accepted the invitation and came charging out of his crease. The legspinner’s dip deceived him. A big hit turned into a scramble to put bat on ball.
Shakib thought he did. Umpire Adrian Holdstock on field didn’t. DRS came into play, and everything turned murky. UltraEdge showed a spike, but the third umpire Langton Rusere thought that was bat hitting ground. Only there seemed a fraction of daylight between those two things.
The on-field decision was upheld. And Shakib was distraught. He kept standing there, swinging his arms around, wondering what was going on. The Bangladesh captain had to literally be pushed out of the field.
That wicket triggered a collapse: six wickets for 36 runs.
More to follow …
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo