Babar Azam-led Pakistan made a splendid comeback in the group stage with some luck by their side to qualify for the T20 World Cup semi-final whereas New Zealand have continued their consistent run. As the two sides gear up for the mega clash on November 9 at Sydney Cricket Ground, here’s a look at what happened when they went up against each other in the marquee event.
In T20 World Cup 2021, the two sides met each other at the group stage. They were in the same group as India. Toss played a crucial role at Sharjah Cricket Stadium and as expected Babar won the toss and opted to field first.
Martin Guptill struggled to get away in the powerplay overs and lost his wicket to Haris Rauf, who was still rising among ranks in Pakistan cricket. Spinners Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez got the wickets of Daryl Mitchell (27) and James Neesham (1) respectively whereas skipper Williamson got run out.
Devon Conway, who used to bat in the middle order could not accelerate in the slog overs and lost his wicket to Rauf. The speedster took two more wickets of Glenn Phillips (13) and Mitchell Santner (6) to register his best bowling figures in the format. Shaheen Afridi too struck off the last ball to dismiss Tim Seifert as the Kiwis posted a non-threatening total of 134/8 on the board.
In the low-scoring run chase, Tim Southee drew first blood and got rid of Babar (9) for a single-digit score. The top-order was kept quiet in the powerplay overs. Fakhar Zaman (11) struggled and his miserable stay at the crease was ended by Ish Sodhi in the ninth over. Hafeez (11) walked out with intent but got dismissed by Santner. Sodhi struck again to release the anchor Rizwan (33) in the 12th over. Wasim's (11) wicket in the 15th over only added more pressure on Pakistan lower-middle order.
When Asif Ali walked out to bat, Pakistan needed 48 runs from 31 deliveries which looked unlikely under the circumstances. Ali took on Southee and hit him for two consecutive sixes in the 17th over to release the pressure as Shoaib Malik was struggling to score run-a-ball. In the next over, Malik (26) took on Santner and hit him for a four and a six. With not much left, Ali (27) finished the game in the penultimate over and won by five wickets and eight balls to spare.
After the win, many said that it was payback for New Zealand pulling out of the Pakistan tour and flying back home just hours before ODI series which was scheduled earlier in 2021.
Ahead of the semi-final, Pakistan have the upper hand it T20 World Cup history with four wins out of six encounters. Overall, they have won 17 out of 28 T20Is.
