Adelaide, 6 November 2022: Shaheen Shah Afridi produced his career-best bowling performance as Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by five wickets in their last Group-2 Super-12 fixture to qualify for their sixth ICC Men’s T20 World Cup semifinal.
After the Netherlands shocked South Africa by 13 runs in the earlier fixture to turn Pakistan versus Bangladesh into a winner takes all match, Shaheen recorded figures of 4-0-22-4 as Bangladesh were limited to 127 for eight.
Mohammad Rizwan (32), Mohammad Haris (31), Babar Azam (25) and Shan Masood (24 not out) then made even contributions as Pakistan romped to victory with 11 balls to spare.
The victory means Pakistan will join India in the semi-finals from Group-2 with the table-topper to meet England and No.2 side to take on New Zealand for places in the final. However, Group-2 standings will be confirmed following the India versus Zimbabwe match, which will be the final game of the Super-12 fixtures.
For Pakistan, this was the second successive time they have qualified for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup semifinals after having missed out in the 2014 (in Bangladesh) and 2016 (in India) editions. This is also the sixth time overall in eight tournaments Pakistan have reached the last four, winning the 2009 event in England and finishing runners-up in South Africa in 2007.
The Adelaide Oval also became a happy venue for Pakistan on 6 November 2022 after they had lost to Australia in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2015 quarterfinal match at the same venue seven years ago.
Coincidently, the passage to the semifinals for the 2022 T20 World Cup is pretty similar to the 1992 World Cup when Pakistan had to win all remaining matches and also hope for some results to go in their favour so that they could progress to the last four.
Thirty years later, Pakistan lost to India and Zimbabwe in last-ball finishes, before bouncing back to beat the Netherlands, South Africa and Bangladesh. Parallel to that, the Dutch caused one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when they knocked-out South Africa, leaving Pakistan a victory over Bangladesh to continue their march in the event.
Scores in brief
Match 41 – Pakistan beat Bangladesh by five wickets
Bangladesh 127-8, 20 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 54, Afif Hossain 24 not out; Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-22, Shadab Khan 2-30)
Pakistan 128-5, 18.1 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 32, Mohammad Haris 31, Babar Azam 25, Shan Masood 24 not out)
Player of the match – Shaheen Shah Afridi
