Khabri420
Senior T20I Player
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2005
- Runs
- 17,381
The first semi-final of the 2009 T20 World Cup was played between Pakistan and South Africa at Nottingham. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. For a team that had peaked at the right time, Pakistan had their strategies all mapped out - from their batting order to their bowling combinations. A great deal of credit goes to the then captain Younis Khan who had led his team well throughout the tournament. The most significant of these moves was having Shahid Afridi come in at number 3, a strategy that paid its dividends.
Shahid Afridi was the highlight of Pakistan's innings scoring a quickfire 51 off 34 balls, which included four consecutive boundaries off of Johan Botha. Although South Africa scaled things back somewhat, Pakistan still managed to post a competitive score of 149, setting South Africa 150 to win.
In response, South Africa started cautiously but failed to keep up with the scoring rate. Mohammed Amir got rid of an out of sorts Graeme Smith to give Pakistan their first breakthrough. In the next over, Shahid Afridi got through Herschelle Gibbs' defense and cleaned him up. In his following over, Afridi really turned around things in Pakistan's favor by getting rid of the in form of AB de Villiers as he played on.
Pakistan kept things relatively tight and maintained the pressure on the South African batsmen. Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy at one stage looked to be taking the game away from Pakistan, but Pakistan striked back with wickets at key stages.
The margin of victory for Pakistan was only 7 runs, much closer than many would have thought. Afridi was given Man of the Match, as expected for his all-round performance and Pakistan had moved on to the final of the T20 World Cup.
Scorecard: http://www.espncricinfo.com/wt202009/engine/current/match/356015.html
Shahid Afridi was the highlight of Pakistan's innings scoring a quickfire 51 off 34 balls, which included four consecutive boundaries off of Johan Botha. Although South Africa scaled things back somewhat, Pakistan still managed to post a competitive score of 149, setting South Africa 150 to win.
In response, South Africa started cautiously but failed to keep up with the scoring rate. Mohammed Amir got rid of an out of sorts Graeme Smith to give Pakistan their first breakthrough. In the next over, Shahid Afridi got through Herschelle Gibbs' defense and cleaned him up. In his following over, Afridi really turned around things in Pakistan's favor by getting rid of the in form of AB de Villiers as he played on.
Pakistan kept things relatively tight and maintained the pressure on the South African batsmen. Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy at one stage looked to be taking the game away from Pakistan, but Pakistan striked back with wickets at key stages.
The margin of victory for Pakistan was only 7 runs, much closer than many would have thought. Afridi was given Man of the Match, as expected for his all-round performance and Pakistan had moved on to the final of the T20 World Cup.
Scorecard: http://www.espncricinfo.com/wt202009/engine/current/match/356015.html
