Pakistan did everything right from the start to book their place in the finals of the ICC T20 Championship for the second time in a row. They batted first, scored a par score at the Trent Bridge and then the spinners choked the South Africans to script a historic win.
Opting to bat first – a wise decision given the fact that the track at Trent Bridge slows down considerably over 20 overs – Pakistan, powered by Shahid Afridi Shoaib Malik and Younis Khan, scored 149 – the average score at the venue. Then, just as Jacques Kallis (64 runs off 54 balls and a Batting Momentum or BM of 76) and Jean Paul Duminy were threatening to run away with the match, the Pak bowlers kept a tight leash to choke the South Africans in the end to win by 7 runs and proceed to the finals.
The Pak spinners were able to check the runs and also pick up crucial wickets. Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Malik bowled 9 overs between them and conceded only 44 runs, at less than 5 runs per over, and picked up 3 valuable wickets to keep the Proteas’ chase at bay. Afridi was the pick of the lot capturing 2 wickets for 16 to earn a Bowling Efficiency (BE) of 100. He was also instrumental with the bat, scoring 51 runs off 34 balls to attain a Batting Momentum of 77 and was deservedly adjudged the “Man of the Match”. Umer Gul bowled two crucial overs during the death and his perfect swinging yorkers had a telling effect on the South African batsmen, who couldn’t flex their muscles to muster 51 runs in the last 5 overs.
Earlier, South African bowlers, especially the spinners gave away too many runs – 66 runs in 8 overs, at more than 8 runs per over – which made all the difference in the match. Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha and Duminy were unable to restrict the Pak batsmen, especially Afridi, Malik and Younis Khan.
It was the first loss for South Africa in the tournament, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time as they again played true to their tag of “Chokers” in World Cricket.
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