Journey to the final: PAKSITAN

No one expected Pakistan’s journey to the final to be this smooth. They’ve not really lost a game yet – the game against India will show up as a Tie for the records and only the brackets would indicate that India would the Bowl-Out.

Pakistan have looked shaky in almost each and every game except for the Semi-Finals against New Zealand. Perhaps they are peaking at the right time?

So who are the players who have been responsible for Pakistan’s progress to the final?

Shoaib Malik: Malik started off his career as an off-spinner and many touted him to be the next Saqlain Mushtaq. But he had to face many chucking allegations and soon transformed into an exceptional middle-order batsman. It all started at Sharjah where he was promoted up the batting order (Pinch Hitter in those days) and rather than slamming the ball around the park, he stroked his way to a century. He repeated the act in a game which followed and soon Malik commanded his place in the squad just for this batting. His elevation to the role of Captain seems to have done good for his confidence and he had lead the squad from the front – he’s the second highest run-getter of the competition and most of the runs have come when the team has been in crisis.

Misbah-ul-Haq: 33 year old Misbah-ul-Haq was the one responsible for keeping Mohd Yousuf out of the squad. Many raised their eye brows at this decision but he has let his bat do the talking and proved to be the backbone of Pakistan’s batting in this Twenty20 World Cup.

Shahid Afridi: Though we’ve not seen sixes flowing from Afridi’s bat it’s been his bowling which sees him currently top the Player of the Tournament charts. With 12 wickets he’s the highest wicket taker of this World Cup. Afridi’s bowling slow, giving the ball some loop and mixing it up with his faster ones.

Fast Bowlers – Umar Gul, Mohd Asif, Sohail Tanveer:
Umar Gul (10 wickets) and Mohammad Asif (9 wickets) have been persistent and have stuck to the right line through the tournament. The unorthodox Sohail Tanveer (5 wickets) has surprised the batsmen with his nippy pace. Together the trio have ensured that no opposition gets off to a good start.

Semi-Final: Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 6 wickets

Chasing a target of 144, the openers Mohd. Hafeez and Imran Nazir got Paksitan off to a blistering start and added 60 runs by the 7th over. The credit of the victory should mainly go to the Pakistani bowlers. They did an exceptional job of limiting the Kiwis to a score of 143 in the allotted 20 overs. Umar Gul was the star taking 3 wickets for 15 runs in his 4 overs.

Video Highlights - Match Details - Scorecard

Super 8 (Group F) – Pakistan defeat Bangladesh by 4 wickets

Pakistan won this match in pretty unconvincing fashion, but they did manage to top their Super 8 group with this victory. The batting failed once again and the top-order could prove to be their weakest link against India or perhaps it’s about time they came good?

Video Highlights - Match Details - Scorecard

Super 8 (Group F) – Pakistan defeat Australia by 6 wickets

Pakistan bowled exceptionally well to restrict Australia to just 164 in their 20 overs. At one stage it looked like the Australian could easily breach the 200 mark. The batting of Pakistan disappointed once again and it was only a brilliant 119-run partnership between Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq which saw the Pakistanis home.

Video Highlights - Match Details - Scorecard

Super 8 (Group F) – Pakistan defeat Sri Lanka by 33 runs

The Lankans were undefeated at this stage and looked like strong favourites to go all the way and win the tournament. The Pakistanis had something else in their minds.

Put in to bat at one stage Pakistan were reduced to 33-3 and only a brilliant 101-run fourth wicket partnership between Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan ensured that Pakistan reached a pretty commanding total of 189.

Video Highlights - Match Details - Scorecard

Group D - India vs Pakistan – Match Tied (India wins bowl out 3-0)

A real topsy-turvy match. Pakistan were in the box seat and then let India get away towards the end of the innings and put up some runs on the board. Pakistan began strongly but then seemingly threw the game away after a mid-innings collapse. When the game was almost over they made a stunning comeback and looked to have won the game when they needed only 1 run off the last 2 balls. As fate would have it, the match ended in a Tie and we all got to witness a Bowl-Out. India won the bowl-out pretty comfortably 3-0.

Video Highlights - Match Details - Scorecard

Group D - Pakistan defeat Scotland by 51 runs.

The way this match started no one would have thought Pakistan would progress this far into the tournament. Both the openers fell early and the run-rate barely crossed the 6 per over mark in the first 8 overs. Patchy performance by them but it was enough to ensure a comfortable victory at the end.

Video Highlights - Match Details - Scorecard


Here's a video for the Pakistani Fans to enjoy:


Will be adding other match details soon.

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