Unbeaten Pakistan eye final spot as they take on mighty Aussies

Unbeaten Pakistan eye final spot as they take on mighty Aussies

Unbeaten Pakistan eye final spot as they take on mighty Aussies
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Pakistan will aim for a spot in the final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 as they will take on the mighty Australia team in the second semi-final at Dubai International cricket stadium today.

The Men-In-Green, who had last played the T20 World Cup final in 2009 and won it, have an upper hand against Australia in the United Arab Emirates as they have won six out of eight T20Is played there. Moreover, the Green Shirts have won 13 encounters out of 23 against them.

On the other hand, Pakistan have not defeated Australia so far in the knock-out stage of an ICC event. The Kangaroos had got better of Shaheens in the semifinal of 1987, the final of 1999, the semi-final of 2010 T20 World Cup, and the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup.

However, the Green Shirts will be looking to break the jinx this time around as Babar Azam and Co have been oozing confidence in the tournament so far.

Pakistan have been the most successful team in T20 World Cups as they became the first team to reach five semifinals of the tournament after they thrashed Namibia by 45 runs.

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Meanwhile, the Aussies have played two semi-finals before in 2010 and 2012. However, it is their first semi-final after about nine years.

The 2010 runners up have qualified for the last four on the basis of Net Run Rate as the top three teams of Group 1, England, Australia and South Africa all had 8 points to their name.

Pakistan’s Strengths and weaknesses

The Green Shirts’ captain Babar Azam is the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 264 runs, just five runs behind England’s Jos Buttler, who were eliminated by New Zealand on Wednesday.

Babar will play a key role in the game as the Pakistan team heavily depends on his performance as the whole batting line plays around him while he anchors the inning.

Babar and Mohammad Rizwan have been phenomenal as the openers for Pakistan and have been performing consistently. However, the problem is that they are similar kind of players and mostly play at about run-a-ball rate in the powerplay.

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The formula was successful for Pakistan against weaker sides, where they accelerated in the last 8 to 10 overs and managed to score 160+ but Australia might not let them cut loose once they have been pushed in a corner.

On the other hand, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, who are experienced campaigners and good players of spin can play Australian spinner Adam Zampa efficiently.

Interestingly, Malik has never been dismissed by Australia in T20 World Cup history. He scored 52 (38) at Johannesburg in 2007, 4 (2) at Colombo in 2012, 6 (3) at Dhaka in 2014, and 40 (20) at Mohali in 2016.

Other than that, Mohammad Asif can be effective in the lower middle-order as he has won Pakistan two matches against New Zealand and Afghanistan with his power hitting.

The Asian giants have an extremely strong bowling attack with Shaheen Shah Afridi leading the pack and striking early in the inning. Whereas, Haris Rauf has also been impressive with his accuracy and clever change of pace. The spin department is more than capable in the likes of Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan who have been one of the most economical spin duos in the tournament.

Furthermore, no one can ignore the threat of Hafeez, who can bowl some off-spin at any stage of the inning and can strike too, especially against left-handed batters.

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Also Read: Mitchell, Neesham star as New Zealand down England to reach World Cup final

Australia’s strength

Australia are looking to their top-order batting led by the explosive David Warner as out of the 640 runs they have scored in the mega event, 402 have come from the top three batters.

Meanwhile, when it comes to bowling, Adam Zampa has a bag of leg-spin tricks that can neutralise any batting line of this world. He is the joint highest wicket-taker with 11 wickets alongside New Zealand’s Trent Boult

The three highest Australian T20I run scorers and the two highest wicket-takers are all part of Australia’s current squad. Finch, Warner, and Maxwell lead the run charts, while Zampa and Starc have taken the most wickets.

Meanwhile, Australia’s pace attack is arguably the finest in the tournament so far with the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc who have taken 19 wickets collectively in the campaign so far.

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The trio can challenge the Pakistani batters and will not let the Green Shirts score easily with experience and skill.

The match will start at 7 pm PST at the Dubai International Stadium.

Squad

Australia (probable)

David Warner, Aaron Finch (capt), Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Pakistan (probable)

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Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez/Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali/Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi

For all the latest updates on ICC World T20 2021 – Follow:

https://oldsite.bolnews.com/sports/cricket/series/t20-world-cup-2021

 

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