Unbelievable things have been happening in the mega event. This T20 World Cup has produced spectacular encounters. This match held great significance following the win of the Netherlands over South Africa. Pakistan was all set and getting ready to pack their bags and book the flights. But Sunday morning, the fans in Pakistan received wonderful news. The win against Bangladesh wins the spot Pakistan is confirmed for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022. From facing disqualification without qualifying to the main round to getting ready to play the knock-out stage, Pakistan has covered a long journey. Adelaide Oval hosted the significant contest of Pakistan vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup contest on November 06, 2022. The winning team is scheduled to play the semi-final fixture vs New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2022.
Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first Pakistan against at Adelaide Oval. The pitch of the Adelaide Oval replicates the classic batting tracks and pitches of the Asian conditions. The Pakistan bowling attack is one of the best bowling sides in the world. They are capable of destroying any kind of bowling side on their day. What else? Bangladesh has nothing to lose. The win against Pakistan would confirm the most significant semi-final spot.
Pakistan vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup: First Innings
Liston Das is the batting marvel of Bangladesh cricket. Bengal Tigers expect him to produce the same fireworks as he produced against India. The scintillating performance in the powerplay overs escalates the chances of scoring the high total on the board. However, Afridi was bowling from the other side. He is one of the best bowlers in the powerplay overs. In the big game, Afridi started amazingly. He took a wicket of Liton Das early in the innings to turn on the scare for the Bangladesh side. Next, the Pakistani fielder dropped the catch of Shanto. The extra chance means Bangladesh eyeing to score a big total.
The Classic Partnership Between Left-Handers
Bangladesh cricketers started building up the innings. However, the run rate was not a worrying sign for the Pakistan team. One wicket at the moment means Pakistan getting back in the game big time. Bangladesh was stabilizing the innings following the powerplay. The loss of continuous wickets is always a concern. Even if the score is less, the team can score big in the last overs. Following the end of 10 overs, Bangladesh scored 70 runs after losing 1 wicket in the T20 World Cup 2022 contest against Pakistan.
Shadab Khan: The Partnership Breaker
Time After Time, Shadab Khan has demonstrated his worth in T20I cricket. In recent times, Khan has proved that he is one of the best Pakistan cricketers of the modern era. And why not? He produced a phenomenal performance against South Africa with both bat and ball. As soon as Bangladesh wanted to take charge against the Pakistan bowlers, Khan produced the wicket of Soumya Sarkar. This was a big wicket keeping in perspective the context of the Bangladesh vs Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 contest.
Pakistan vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup: The Controversy
Talking about the umpiring standards in the T20 World Cup 2022, they have been below par. When Shakib Al Hasan arrived on the crease, Shadab Khan delivered the ball onto his legs. Shakib was advancing down the wicket. The umpire raised the finger. Shakib was confident. He took the review. The ultra edge showed a spike. It appeared as if the ball touched the bat. It is not out. However, there was confusion. Is the spike coming on the ultra edge because of Shakib’s bat which touched the ground?
By watching the replay, we could assume 80% of that bat did not touch the ground. However, the umpire was convinced that the ball did not touch the bat. The hawks-eye gave its verdict. The ball touched the stumps. Pakistan got the most important breakthrough of the innings. What else? Shakib Al Hasan is the biggest star of Bangladesh cricket. The wicket of Shakib means Pakistan can restrict Bangladesh to a low total.
Damage was Done
Bangladesh was recovering from the sudden shock. At first, Shakib Al Hasan was not leaving the field in shock. Then he had to leave. Shanto completed his fifty. Bangladesh needed him until the end against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 contest. Babar kept trusting Iftikhar and finally, he produced a wicket for Shanto. Pakistan was ruling the game T20 World Cup contest against Bangladesh.
Following the end of 15 overs, Bangladesh could not reach the mark of 100 runs. For Bangladesh to win against Pakistan in the virtual Quarter-Final of the T20 World Cup, they needed a fine total on the board. But the Pakistan bowling standards are high.
Amazing Performance By Shaheen
During the T20 World Cup 2022, experts noticed that Afridi is not 100 percent. However, he has fired on the most significant stage. He took 2 wickets in his over and destroyed Bangladesh’s chances of scoring the high total on the board. It was a scintillating performance by Afridi against Bangladesh in such a big game. The way he bowled Mosaddek in the over demonstrates his greatness in the bowling department according to modern-era standards. The next over was Haris Rauf.
Haris Rauf is the kind of bowler who bowls splendidly well in the death overs. He does not allow the batsmen to take a charge against him in the final overs. Moreover, if the batsman is a tailender, it is tougher for him to strike the deliveries of Haris. He did not allow Bangladesh to score any boundary in his over. The next over Afridi produced a wicket. The Eagle got his form back at the most important stage. Despite the boundaries, Bangladeshi batsmen scored against Haris Rauf in the last over, the side could only post a total of 127 runs on the board.
Pakistan vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup: The Opening Fiasco
Pakistan has been facing a tremendous amount of trouble as far as the department of opening batsmen is concerned. The batsmen at the top play a tremendous amount of slow cricket to create huge pressure on the middle order. The Pakistan opening side could not perform well in the T20 World Cup 2022. This was finally the team to start the journey of redemption. Babar Azam was carrying a huge burden of not performing well in the Asia Cup 2022 and T20 World Cup 2022.
He is the kind of player who demonstrates spectacular performance on the field. However, he was just not finding his touch in the game. Babar is a great player and he is admired by the greats of the game. He needed to make an impact on the huge stage. Especially, when the stage is huge and Pakistan is on the verge of qualification, Babar needs to fire.
The Nervousness in Babar Azam
The nervousness in gameplay of Babar was clearly evident when he was batting in the game against Bangladesh during the T20 World Cup 2022 contest. While Rizwan was trying to attack the Bangladesh spinners and go with full force, Babar was trying to have fine touch against the opposition. The ball was not just coming on the bat of the star Pakistan batsman easily. Rizwan needed to step up and hit the boundaries. In the over of Shakib, Rizwan hit two boundaries to escalate the powerplay of the Pakistan side.
The run rate was slow but because of the low total on the board, Pakistan was playing satisfactory cricket. However, there was one scare. The scare of failing in the knockout game. Yes, Pakistan was on verge of the qualification but it happened after the win of the Netherlands over South Africa. Pakistan needed to escalate its gameplay and demonstrate its full potential against New Zealand. Pakistan vs Bangladesh T20 World Cup contest was a fine opportunity to settle things and build a great partnership to build up the momentum before the semi-final.
The Demands of Modern-Era Cricket
In the modern era of cricket, the rules and regulations demand a fine display of cricket with a great pace using the bat. The batsmen need to play fast cricket to survive in the format. However, Babar and Rizwan follow a different patterns in cricket. The pattern is completely opposite to the approach of Brendon McCullum in Test cricket. On some occasions, the idea is great and once the players completely build the innings, they could chase or post huge totals. However, the approach could backfire if the players don’t with fine pace on the crease and eventually the total is out of reach.
The same kind of thing happened in the Asia Cup 2022 final so there is a huge scare regarding the same thing in the T20 World Cup 2022. For the 5 straight overs, Pakistan did not score boundaries. Even the rotation of strike on the crease was not really efficient by the Pakistan batsmen. They were not playing exciting cricket. At that moment, a wicket or two could really destroy the momentum of the side. In the over of Shakib Al Hasan, Babar Azam finally hit the boundary to get some sign of relief in the significant contest against Bangladesh.
Low Score in First Ten Overs
Pakistan scored only 56 runs in the first 10 overs vs Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2022 contest. Keeping the modern-era standards in perspective, this is a very low score. Furthermore, the wicket of Babar Azam fell and he was trapped on the delivery of Nasum Ahmed. Bangladesh taking one more wicket at that stage could really destroy the momentum of Pakistan. Rizwan was batting on the other end of the crease. Ebadot took the wicket of Rizwan and it was really an important wicket for Bangladesh.
The next batsman was Haris on the crease. According to the experts, the selection of Haris in the squad is premature. He still needs to work on his skills before he could get a spot on the international side. But the potential he showed against the South African bowlers was astonishing, to say the least. While batting against Ebadot on the crease when Bangladesh had a chance to get back in the game, Haris smashed two boundaries to get back in the game. Those were the boundaries that gave Pakistan a huge sign of relief in the game. It was just a matter of time before Pakistan was on the verge of the semi-final qualification. As Pakistan was moving on towards victory, they lost the wicket of Nawaz. It was a huge blow considering the context where the game was standing. Taskin got the ball in hand.
All Set To Play The Final
With the ball in hand, he made the strategy to take the important wicket and get Pakistan out of the game However, Haris smashed him for a sixer. In the next of Shakib, Masood hit two fours to demonstrate his command on the crease. Despite Pakistan losing another wicket in the form of Haris who made a tremendous impact on the crease, Pakistan won the game by 5 wickets. It was a phenomenal victory for Pakistan fans. Since the 2009 T20 World Cup final, it was the first time Pakistan qualified for the T20 World Cup final. Pakistan is all set to face the winner of the T20 World Cup semi-final winner between India and England. There is huge excitement for the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
