Tag: ICC T20 World Cup 2022

SYDNEY: New Zealand have won the toss and opted to bat first against Pakistan in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, here on Wednesday.

PLAYING XIs

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Haris, Fakhar Zaman, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf

HEAD TO HEAD (T20Is)

Matches 28, Pakistan 17, New Zealand 11

FORM GUIDE

Pakistan: W,W,W,L,L
New Zealand: W,L,W,W,L

It is nothing less than a miracle that we are witnessing Pakistan stepping into the semi-finals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. In fact, the elderly fans of the team would have gone through a deja vu when almost three decades ago Imran Khan’s ‘Cornered tigers’ pulled off a dream comeback aided by forces beyond human comprehension to qualify for the final four and then locking horns with New Zealand before the final. A perfect repeat telecast of the 1992 World Cup is what the nation will be craving today. 

But, what are the odds that a wobbly Pakistan – who barely advanced to the final four stage – can beat the Kiwis – who almost made it a mundane activity to become finalists of the recent ICC tournaments, both ODI and T20 – at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the first semi-final on Wednesday? (New Zealand were the runner ups of the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups, and  also the 2021 T20 World Cup)

Both teams have one strength in common, and that is their pace battery. With veterans like Trent Boult and Tim Southee and an express pacer Lockie Ferguson at their disposal, New Zealand have every box ticked to disrupt even the most potent batting lineups of the world. And If they could make the new ball talk, the under-pressure opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam might find it hard to salvage themselves from a woeful batting slump in the current tournament.

Pakistan, on the other hand, will be rooting for Shaheen, who just got his rhythm back, to give them an early breakthrough before Naseem Shah and death-bowling specialist Haris Rauf could further coerce the strong-looking Kiwi batting line. Pakistan will try to resist any change in their bowling make-up as the addition of an extra fast bowler, Mohammad Wasim Jr, have paid them dividends in the last four matches.

Besides their pace factory, Pakistan got a highly reliable spin attack that features the likes of leg-spinner Shadab Khan, who has been the most impactful player for the Green Shirts be it with the bowl or even with the bat, the all-rounder has made his presence felt and played some crucial roles in his side’s triumph.
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A brief glance at the stats of the SCG shows us that the teams batting first have an edge over their opponents as they won 10 out of 17 T20I matches while the average first innings score is 167. Pakistan bode far better than the average when they raised 185/9 against South Africa in their group match at the venue, thanks to the blistering knocks by Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed coupled with a superb cameo played by young Mohammad Haris in the powerplay.

The Green Shirts desperately need their batting mainstays, Babar and Rizwan, to click just at the right time and it couldn’t be a much better opportunity than this. So far their sluggish approach in the powerplay caused less good than evil for the team in the tournament. But a bet on energetic Haris to open for the team might break that stagnation at the top for Pakistan. Maybe or maybe not? We have to see how today’s game turns out.

HEAD TO HEAD (T20Is)

Matches 28, Pakistan 17, New Zealand 11

FORM GUIDE

Pakistan: W,W,W,L,L
New Zealand: W,L,W,W,L

SYDNEY: Pakistan captain Babar Azam participated in the optional training session ahead of his team’s scheduled semi-final clash of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 against New Zealand.

According to the details, the rest of the national team preferred to rest before the all-important semi-final against New Zealand, scheduled for tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Babar, who is going through a rough patch, practised alone in the nets to regain his form.

The right-handed batter trained for a gruelling one and a half hours, while team mentor Matthew Hayden accompanied him.

It is pertinent to mention that Babar could manage to score 39 runs in five innings at a dismal average of 7.8 and a strike rate of 48.03.

READ: T20 WC: Rohit gets hit on forearm during net session ahead of semi-final 

ADELAIDE: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma survived a serious injury as he got a hit on the forearm while practising in the nets on Tuesday ahead of the T20 World Cup semi-final against England. 

According to the Indian media reports, Rohit took some rest and applied an icepack before resuming his training again but mostly played defensive shots to make sure that his movements were alright.

The Indian captain was undergoing usual practice drills when he faced a powerful blow on his forearm while attempting a pull shot against the dog thrower. Rohit looked in pain and received immediate medical treatment.

Team sources said the captain is doing fine and should play the semifinal against England on Thursday, reported Indian media.

It is pertinent to mention here that India topped the Group 2 standings in the Super 12s stage with four wins and a lone defeat against South Africa. The Men in Blue will now take on England at Adelaide Oval on Thursday in the second semifinal of the mega event.

Meanwhile, Pakistan will face New Zealand in the first semi-final tomorrow at Sydney Cricket Ground.

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SYDNEY: Pakistan team mentor Matthew Hayden has put his weight behind out-of-form skipper Babar Azam and has cautioned the opposing teams that they are about to witness some very special knock from the Pakistan captain in the final phase of the T20 World Cup.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday ahead of the first semifinal between the Green Shirts and New Zealand tomorrow at the Sydney Cricket Ground, former Australian cricketer has backed Pakistan’s opening pair, Babar and Mohammad Rizwan, to bounce back from the dip, saying that such special players do not stay down for long.

Hayden supported both of the openers and compared their predicament to that of Adam Gilchrist during the 2007 ODI World Cup.

“Babar and Rizwan rightly are the number one combination,” he said. “Adam Gilchrist… had quite a lean World Cup…(And) that last match against Sri Lanka, he went on to score an incredible hundred and realized his potential in that tournament and awakened the world once again to the fact that he was such a premium player. ”

He further went on to say we all felt the pressure at any given time in our careers and that was no different for the No.1 combination.

Talking about Babar’s form in the current T20 World Cup, Hayden said: “You can’t continue to punching out the fifties and hundreds and the strike rates of 140 plus. There’s got to be moments in time when there’s a lull.”

“As well know about the weather when there’s a lull, there’s often a storm that follows. So look out, the rest of the world because I think you’re about to see something very special from Babar,” he warned.

It is pertinent to mention here that No.4 ranked T20I batter Babar remained unimpressive with the bat in the ongoing mega event as he was dismissed within the single digits four out of five times while he managed an overall 39 runs in the tournament so far.

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SYDNEY: Pakistan cricket team reached Sydney on Monday ahead of their crucial semifinal clash against the Group 1 topper New Zealand on Wednesday here at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

The Babar Azam-led side barged into the knockout stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 with an astonishing turn of events as underdogs Netherlands upset South Africa in the first clash of Sunday’s tripleheader while Pakistan beat Bangladesh to confirm the spot in the final four.

The national squad will not participate in any sort of cricket-related activity tomorrow. Whereas, team mentor Matthew Hayden will hold a press talk on Tuesday evening.

The Green Shirts had previously played one of their Super 12s games at the SCG where they sealed a sensational win against South Africa on November 3 ( Thursday).

In the second semifinal, India will take on England on Thursday in Adelaide while the final of the mega event will be held on November 13 ( Sunday) at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Men in Green survived the early scares and got a surprise ticket to the tournament’s semifinal as their chances for qualification looked bleak after they lost the first two matches of the World Cup campaign, including an upset defeat against Zimbabwe in Perth.

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MELBOURNE: Indian opener KL Rahul and top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav powered their side to a massive 186/5 before bowlers displayed a combined effort to decimate the Zimbabwean batting order and handed their side a comprehensive 71-run victory in the last Super 12s fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

Following India’s triumph over Zimbabwe, Pakistan will now face New Zealand in the first semi-final on Wednesday, while India will take on England in the second semi-final on Thursday.

Set to chase 187, the Zimbabwean batting lineup failed completely and could amass 115 runs before being bundled out in the 18th over.

Experienced all-rounder Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl put up a brief fight with their valiant knocks of 34 and 35 respectively, while the rest of the Zimbabwean batters had no answers to the Indian bowling attack.

Skipper Craig Ervine could accumulate 13 runs, while the rest of the Zimbabwean batters failed to amass the double figures.

Ravichandran Ashwin led the bowling attack for India with 3/22, while Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami bagged two wickets each.

Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel, on the other hand, made one scalp each.

After opting to bat first, India succeeded in posting a mammoth 186/5 in their last Super 12s fixture at the back of Rahul and Kumar’s fifties.

The men in blue had a rather unwanted start to their innings as they lost their captain Rohit Sharma (15) cheaply for a mere 27 runs in the fourth over.

India’s top batter Virat Kohli then anchored the innings alongside Rahul and carried the total to 87 in the 12th over before the former perished after scoring 26 off 25.

Following Kohli’s dismissal, Rahul too, could not hold on for long and fell briefly after amassing his half-century. He scored 51 off 35 with the help of three boundaries and as many sixes.

Replacing Dinesh Karthik in the Playing XI, Rishabh Pant, failed to make an impact with the bat against Zimbabwe and could score a mere three runs in five balls before walking back to the dugout in the 14th over.

Following Pant’s departure, Kumar and Hardik Pandya took the charge and took Zimbabwean bowlers to cleaners as they added 65 runs in just 35 balls to power India to a massive total.

Kumar was the main aggressor of the vital fifth wicket stand, while Pandya, who was rotating the strike fell in the final over after scoring a run-a-ball 18.

The top-ranked batter Kumar top scored for India with a blistering 61 off 25 balls, laced with six boundaries and four sixes.

For Zimbabwe, Sean Williams bagged two wickets for just nine runs, while Sikandar Raza, Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava struck out a batter each.

MELBOURNE: India have won the toss and elected to bat first against Zimbabwe in the last Super 12s fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

PLAYING XIs

India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.

Watch HD Live Streaming on ARY ZAP: https://aryzap.com/icc-mens-t20-worldcup-2022/

ADELAIDE: Pakistan came from behind to book the semifinal berth of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in an interesting turn of events on an action-filled Sunday as they beat Bangladesh by five wickets.

PAK 128/5 (18.1 Overs)

Ebadot comes back

PAK 126/5 (18 Overs)

Mustafizur replaces Taskin

PAK 121/4 (17 Overs)

Shakib to bowl his last

PAK 110/3 (16 Overs)

Taskin replaces Ebadot

PAK 94/3 (15 Overs)

Shakib comes back

PAK 89/2 (14 Overs)

Ebadot continues

PAK 76/2 (13 Overs)

Mustafizur replaces Nasum

PAK 69/2 (12 Overs)

11.2: Wide on a length. Rizwan leant across, reached out and tried to slash it, looked like Rizwan wanted to go for the boundary but was early on the shot.

Ebadot comes back

PAK 61/1 (11 Overs)

10.3:  Looped up full on middle and off, Babar went on one knee and tried to whack it aerially. The ball deceived Babar and went off the splice.

Nasum comes to bowl his last

PAK 56/0 (10 Overs)

Shakib replaces Nasum

PAK 48/0 (9 Overs)

Ebadot Hossain comes into the attack

PAK 42/0 (8 Overs)

Nasum to bowl his third

PAK 38/0 (7 Overs)

Mustafizur continues

PAK 34/0 (6 Overs)

Nasum comes back

PAK 33/0 (5 Overs)

Mustafizur Rahman replaces Taskin

PAK 26/0 (4 Overs)

Shakib Al Hasan comes to bowl

PAK 15/0 (3 Overs)

Taskin continues

PAK 11/0 (2 Overs)

Nasum Ahmed to bowl from the other end

PAK 6/0 (1 Over)

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan come out to open the innings for Pakistan. Taskin Ahmed to bowl the first over.

PAKISTAN vs BANGLADESH (2nd INNINGS)

ADELAIDE: Shaheen Afridi stormed through the lower middle order as he grabbed four wickets, aiding Pakistan to restrict Bangladesh to 127/8 as the two teams compete for the semifinal berth in a virtual knockout game of the Super 12s Group 2, here on Sunday.

BAN 127/8 (20 Overs)

Haris to bowl the final over

BAN 116/7 (19 Overs)

Shaheen comes to bowl his last

BAN 109/6 (18 Overs)

Haris comes back into the attack

BAN 107/6 (17 Overs)

16.5: Came down and stayed leg side to open up cover. Looked to loft it, got height. Deep point ran diagonally to the right and took it.

16.2: Came in and tailed away late, pitched around the middle and went away. Mosaddek tried to dab it with an open face and missed it.

Shaheen replaces Wasim Jr

BAN 106/4 (16 Overs)

Naseem comes back

BAN 99/4 (15 Overs)

Wasim Jr comes back

BAN 92/4 (14 Overs)

13.2: Down the track again but a bit too early. Iftikhar sees him and pulls back the length, bowls it slow. Shanto goes for the inside-out cover drive on the up, misses and it hits off.

Iftikhar continues

BAN 87/3 (13 Overs)

Shadab comes to bowl his last

BAN 78/3 (12 Overs)

Iftikhar comes back

BAN 74/3 (11 Overs)

10.4: Reverse swept in the air, taken at point! It was full and slow around off, Soumya Sarkar changed his stance early and looked to hit it hard.

Shadab comes again

BAN 70/1 (10 Overs)

Haris comes back

BAN 64/1 (9 Overs)

Shadab continues

BAN 56/1 (8 Overs)

Iftikhar Ahmed comes into the attack

BAN 49/1 (7 Overs)

Shadab Khan comes to bowl his first

BAN 40/1 (6 Overs)

Naseem comes again

BAN 38/1 (5 Overs)

Haris Rauf replaces Shaheen

BAN 34/1 (4 Overs)

Mohammad Wasim Jr replaces Naseem

BAN 21/1 (3 Overs)

Shaheen continues

BAN 13/0 (2 Overs)

Naseem Shah to bowl from the other end

BAN 6/0 (1 Over)

Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto come out to bat for Bangladesh. Shaheen Shah Afridi to bowl the first over

PAKISTAN vs BANGLADESH (1st INNINGS)

ADELAIDE: Bangladesh have won the toss and elected to bat first in a must-win Group 2 Super 12s clash against Pakistan in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.

PLAYING XIs

Pakistan: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Ebadot Hossain

HEAD TO HEAD (T20Is)

Matches 17, Pakistan 15, Bangladesh 2

FORM GUIDE

Bangladesh: L, W, L, W, L
Pakistan: W, W, L, L, W

ADELAIDE: Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first against Pakistan in a virtual knockout game of the Super 12s Group 2 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, here on Sunday.

Pakistan remained unchanged while Bangladesh made three changes in their playing XI.

Playing XIs: 

Pakistan: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Ebadot Hossain

HEAD TO HEAD (T20Is)

Matches 17, Pakistan 15, Bangladesh 2

FORM GUIDE

Bangladesh: L, W, L, W, L
Pakistan: W, W, L, L, W