There are a lot of ifs and buts involved in Pakistan’s qualification for the semi-final but one thing is for sure, they have to beat Australia today at Mohali to survive in this tournament.
Both teams have to win today to be in the last-four round of the event and Shahid Afridi and co’s campaign might just end if they are not able to slay the cricketing giants from Down Under.
Afridi said after the surprise loss against New Zealand that the team is repeating the same mistakes again and again. Moreover, head coach Waqar Younis believed that the team does not deserve to be in the semis.
Will it be Afridi’s last match at the international level as the captain of the Pakistan team or the men in green can make a comeback?
Teams
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Imad Wasim, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Sami, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz.
Australia: SPD Smith, DA Warner, AC Agar, NM Coulter-Nile, JP Faulkner, AJ Finch, JW Hastings, JR Hazlewood, UT Khawaja, MR Marsh, GJ Maxwell, PM Nevill, AJ Tye, SR Watson, A Zampa.
AUS 193-4 (20 overs)
Leg bye to end the Aussie innings.
SIX! Watson goes big over the leg side.
Watson has three balls to do something… Slow ball and Watson top-edges it over the head of the keeper. FOUR!
Beats Smith with two short balls and Smith takes a single.
Muhammad Amir. Starts with two wides.
AUS 179-4 (19 overs)
What was that? Smith walked towards the off side and his stumps were completely open to hit. Instead, Wahab followed him. FOUR towards leg.
Two taken by Watson followed by a single.
FOUR! Cracking shot. That sound of the bat. Watson punishes the full-toss.
Watson beaten by a full pacy off side delivery.
Wahab Riaz in for the penultimate over. Single from the first ball.
AUS 167-4 (18 overs)
Single to end the over.
Single and Smith hits a FOUR! Cuts it and finds the gap between point and gully,
SIX! Watson goes inside out and clears the covers boundary.
Two taken and Smith gets his FIFTY. Follows it up with a single.
Muhammad Sami.
AUS 152-4 (17 overs)
FOUR! Swings again and this time finds the fence square through off.
SIX! Watson stamping his authority over Amir. Goes over deep midwicket.
Single from Smith.
FOUR! Khalid Latif should have stopped that but it was placed nicely as well.
Watson swings but gets only a single from midwicket.
Muhammad Amir is back. Single by Smith off the first ball.
AUS 135-4 (16 overs)
Single off the last ball as well.
Watson follows the boundary up with a single.
FOUR! Short and pulled beautifully by Watson. Someone needs to remind Wahab that this is not an Australian pitch.
Smith on 42 plays a dot. Finds a single from fine leg.
Wahab Riaz is back with Watson facing. Single taken off the first ball.
AUS 127-4 (15 overs)
Three runs off the over. He finishes with figures of 27-0 after four overs.
Shahid Afridi in for his last over.
AUS 124-4 (14 overs)
FOUR! Smith disects the cover field.
Shane Watson walks in to join captain Smith. He has announced his retirement after the World T20.
OUT! Maxwell’s mishits finds the long-on fielder.
FOUR! Smith goes through covers.
Imad Wasim into his last over.
AUS 112-3 (13 overs)
SIX! Wide on off and Maxwell whacks it over extra cover.
FOUR! Short and Maxwell pulls it with authority.
Another wide! Maxwell cuts and finds point fielder to play a dot on the legal delivery.
Single and a dot follow. Maxwell to face the fourth ball.
FOUR! Short and on off and the edge from Smith flies towards the third man boundary.
Sami is back. Starts with a wide. Will Sami ever find his line and length?
AUS 95-3 (12 overs)
Three off the last three.
Australian batsmen rotating the strike and finding a boundary in every over. Smart cricket from the Australians.
Two off the first three balls.
Imad Wasim into his third over.
AUS 90-3 (11 overs)
Fourteen runs off the over.
FOUR! Maxwell sweeps and finds the unguarded deep midwicket boundary.
FOUR! Reverse sweep goes over the head of the keeper. Maxwell accounts for it.
Shahid Afridi.
AUS 76-3 (10 overs)
Last ball… Smith steers it towards the open leg side and takes another one.
Six runs off the first five balls.
Imad Wasim again.
AUS 70-3 (9 overs)
Last ball… another single by Smith to end the over.
Five runs off the first five balls.
Shahid Afridi continues.
AUS 64-3 (8 overs)
FOUR! Swept by Smith to earn a boundary.
Glenn Maxwell joins Smith.
BOWLED! Aaron Finch misses and watches as his woodwork trembles.
Imad Wasim is the new bowler. Starts with a dot.
AUS 55-2 (7 overs)
Dot and a single to end the over. Just five off Afridi’s over.
Four singles off the first four balls.
Captain Shahid Afridi comes on to bowl. This might be the last time we see him bowl his leg-spinners.
AUS 52-2 (6 overs)
FOUR! On his legs and Smith pads it past the short fine leg fielder.
FOUR! Australia just ran four runs. Two fielders converge and between the time they did so, Smith and Finch ran four.
Finch rotates strike too. Smith plays a dot on the next ball.
Captain Steven Smith is the next man in… Single taken!
BOWLED! Wahab is on fire today! He is finding the blockhole with ease. This time its Warner.
Wahab is back.
AUS 42-1 (5 overs)
Dot followed by a single on the last ball.
FOUR! Warner cuts a pacy delivery past point.
Dot followed by a single by Finch.
FOUR! Finch welcomes Sami with a boundary. Sami under pressure.
Sami in for his second over.
AUS 32-1 (4 overs)
FOUR! Warner cuts it past point on the second ball he faces.
David Warner walks in at number three… receives an inswinging yorker and blocks it.
BOWLED! Khawaja beaten by a pacy yorker in the block hole. Wahab on target! Pakistan strike.
LBW appeal but the slow ball was drifting down the leg side.
SIX! Khawaja stands and slaps a short ball over deep midwicket’s head.
Single taken from short fine leg.
Wahab Riaz is back from the injury and into the attack early.
AUS 21-0 (3 overs)
No run as Khawaja hits it towards mid-on.
Dot to Finch as Amir comes round the wicket. Next ball, Finch fetches three runs from covers.
Quick single from point. Finch faces next.
Khawaja beaten by an incoming delivery. The ball went over the off stump.
Single from mid-on by Finch.
Muhammad Amir continues.
AUS 16-0 (2 overs)
FOUR! Cracked through covers by Khawaja. Shoaib Malik wasn’t able to stop it with his bare hands.
Quick single stolen from mid-on by Finch.
Single taken and Finch is on to face the next ball.
Cuts but Khawaja finds the fielder. Dot.
WIDE! And that was very wide actually. Keeper collected it from the first slip.
Dot to Khawaja. Good comeback by Sami.
FOUR! Sami wanders on the leg side and Khawaja just swings it past short fine leg fielder.
Muhammad Sami in with the new ball.
AUS 5-0 (1 over)
Finch leaves an outgoing delivery.
Single taken and Finch faces the last ball.
FOUR! Leading edge by Khawaja runs away to the boundary. The outfield is lightening fast!
An outswinger from Amir and Khwaja is beaten once again.
Khawaja tries to connect his bat with the ball and misses it. Beaten by pace of Amir. Another dot.
Khawaja leaves the first ball. The ball was bolwed just outside the off stump. Good leave!
Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja open the batting for Australia. Meanwhile, Muhammad Amir is warming up to bowl the first over for Pakistan. Must-win game for Pakistan and here is their best bowler with the ball. Game on!
National anthems of both teams are being played at Mohali.
Ahmed Shehzad: We are very confident about the game. This game is very important for us. We need to do well here.
Toss
Shahid Afridi: We are not relying on toss today, we just have to win today. Irfan is resting, Wahab Riaz is back. I haven’t taken any decision [on retirement]. I will do it in front of my nation.
Pitch report
Mohali has always favoured the batsmen and with slight grass on the surface today to hold the pitch together, it is again not going to offer any assistance to the bowlers.
