The momentum of the game shifted like a pendulum before the Pakistani bowlers crawled back in the high scoring affair to bring their side a 16-run win over Australia in the World Twenty20 yesterday.
In a must win match to stay in the race of reaching the last four Pakistan rode on a blistering 94 from Umar Akmal to post a commanding 191 for 5 before Aussie prodigy Glen Maxwell threatened to steal the game away with his prolific 33-ball 74.
Pakistan made one change to their side, bringing in 34-year-old Zulfiqur Babar in place of Junaed Khan and the left-arm spinner gave the Asians the perfect start by sending back the two most dangerous T20 batsmen David Warner and Shane Watson in the very first over.
However, the double blow hardly made any difference to incoming batsman Maxwell who clobbered the Pakistani bowlers to all corners of the ground. He equaled the fastest fifty in the format off 17 balls with five fours and five sixes, a feat that kept the fans at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium glued to each ball.
Australia reached 100 off just 49 balls and looked to race to victory with Maxwell and Aaron Finch adding 118 in just 10.4 overs. However, Shahid Afridi had the right-handed Maxwell caught at deep midwicket with Australia well on course needing 65 from 50 balls. The leg-spinner struck again cleaning up George Bailey for only four which triggered the pressure on the lower middle order.
Finch, who was happy to nudge the ball around when Maxwell was dominating the opponent, opened up and made 65 off 54 before Saeed Ajmal yorked him to leave the stumps flashing. Rest of the bowlers cashed in at the dismissals as they allowed none of the other batsmen reach double figures.
Bilawal Bhatti, who was hit for 30 in his first over by Maxwell, returned to bowl the last over and cleaned up the Aussie tail to tag two wickets beside his name and end Australia’s chase on 175.
Earlier, Pakistan lost Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez inside the powerplay which allowed them to take only 36 from the six overs before the Akmal brothers, Kamran and Umar, put on a 96 for the third wicket.
Kamran, who made run-a-bal 31, concentrated on rotating the strike while his younger brother was busy smashing fours and sixes. Age got the worst of Brad Hogg as the oldest player of the tournament, who is 43, spilled a catch off Umar which came back to haunt them. The chinaman later proved expensive going for 29 runs off three overs.
Umar was unlucky to miss out on his maiden T20 hundred as he holed on inches from the long-on boundary on 94 from just 54 balls in the last over. Afridi chipped in with a 11-ball 20 taking Pakistan close to 200.