Preview: Pakistan will be hoping to continue their dream run in the T20 World Cup when they take on New Zealand in the first semi-final in Sydney on Wednesday.
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New Zealand, the team that had finished runners-up in an ICC event yet again last year following their defeat to Australia in the final, became the first team to qualify for the knockouts of the ongoing competition and would top of Group 1 with a much superior Net Run Rate after finishing level on points (7) with England and defending champions Australia.
Pakistan, on the other hand, snuck into the semi-finals pretty much on a last-minute basis. The team was down and out after suffering back-to-back defeats against India and Zimbabwe respectively, and were staring at the prospect of an early flight back home.
A win against Netherlands followed by a commanding performance against South Africa kept them mathematically alive, but what ultimately opened the door to the knockouts for them was Netherlands’ upset victory over the Proteas, which effectively made the Bangladesh-Pakistan encounter in Adelaide a virtual quarter-final. Shaheen Shah Afridi’s four-fer would help Pakistan hand their neighbours a five-wicket loss and secure their entry as the fourth and final team to qualify for the semi-finals.
Squads:
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Kane Williamson(c), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman.
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan(w), Babar Azam(c), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Haider Ali, Asif Ali.
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