da realbet： Defending champions Pakistan marched into the semi-finals through ared-hot performance from their fast bowlers backed up by the spinners,which blew Australia away for 129 at the Kinrara Oval
The Bulletin by George Binoy in Kuala Lumpur25-Feb-2008
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Adil Raza: the wrecker-in-chief for Pakistan with figures of 3 for 26 © Getty Images
Defending champions Pakistan marched into the semi-finals through a red-hot performance from their fast bowlers backed up by the spinners, which blew Australia away for 129 at the Kinrara Oval. Pakistan got on top early in the contest by taking quick wickets and did not relent, making runs extremely hard to come by. They bowled Australia out in 47.2 overs and the target of 130 was easily achieved, setting up a semi-final clash against South Africa.Pakistan’s bowlers have masked their poor batting in the tournament so far – they have not scored 200 yet – and the pressure on their batsmen, playing on the first time on a slowish Kinrara pitch, was eased tremendously by having to chase a paltry target. Their top-order struggledonce again – they were 32 for 3 – but all they needed was one substantial partnership, which Ahmed Shezad and Ali Asad, who was unbeaten on 63, provided by adding 95 for the fourth wicket.The groundwork for a crushing victory was laid by right-arm fast-bowlersAdil Raza and Azhar Attari after Imad Wasim put Australia in on anovercast day in Kuala Lumpur. Raza’s opening spell yielded 3 for 18 whileAttari displayed superb stamina by bowling ten overs on the trot for 2 for23. Wasim capitalized on the start provided by his quick bowlers and took2 for 21 with his left-arm spin.Australia went into the match with a strengthened batting line up after apoor performance against Sri Lanka. They brought in Marcus Stoinis, whoopened instead of Kirk Pascoe, and Kumar Sarna while Phil Hughes keptwicket instead of the specialist in the earlier games, Dom O’Brien. Theploy did not work as none of the top order batsmen got settled. Thehighest partnership was 31 as wickets fell at quick intervals. Pakistaneven struck twice in the same over on two occasions as they completelydominated the Australians.The collapse began in the first over of the match as Raza seamed his third ball away from left-hand batsman Philip Hughes, who pushed at it andfeathered a nick to wicketkeeper Asad. Two balls later Razaskidded one into Stoinis’ pads and Australia were 1 for 2.Raza struck for a third time when he induced an edge from Sarna’soff-drive to Asad and Australia were 30 for 3. Raza’s stock delivery wasthe one that seamed away from the left-hand batsman and he was backed upsuperbly by his new-ball partner Mohammad Rameez. Though Rameez did notpick up a wicket, he bowled a tight length and had the batsman undecidedwhether to play at it or not.Boundaries weren’t forthcoming: the first came via an outside edge fromMichael Hill through the vacant second slip region in the seventh over.The run-rate was slower than England’s struggle against India on Sundaybut while England did not lose early wickets, Australia’s fell in a heap.The first bowling change that Wasim made produced immediate results.Attari pitched around off stump and seamed the ball away from Hill, whodrove and edged to the wicketkeeper. At 31 for 4, Australia needed apartnership and Steve Smith and Michael Cranmer tried to consolidate.However, Attari’s second strike – Cranmer was unlucky to be adjudgedcaught behind – broke a partnership of 31. They had just taken half a stepforward but were pushed several steps behind.Steven Smith had slowly accumulated 22 runs but he was dismissed whiletrying to flick Wasim’s left-arm spin across the line. Wasim struck againin the same over, bowling James Faulkner around his legs while heattempted the sweep.Australia were floundering at 71 for 7 but Wasim chose not to bring backhis fast bowlers and persisted with spin. Ahmed Shezad bowled hislegbreaks for less than four runs per over while Umar Akmal, the youngerbrother of Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran, took 1 for 19 off seven overs ofrestrictive offspin. They weren’t as incisive as the earlier bowlers andthe Australian lower-order batsmen hung around – No 8 James Pattinsontop-scored with 33 – to take the total past a 100.Australia needed to run through the top order to have any chance offighting back but Pakistan’s openers approached the run-chaseaggressively. Akmal, who tried to play a shot a ball, struck a flurryof boundaries through cover before he miscued a pull to square leg.Josh Hazlewood, a tall fast bowler who is the youngest member in theAustralian squad, infused some excitement by striking twice in his firstover to nip out Umar Amin and Umair Mir. Pakistan were 32 for 3 but Asadand the opener Shezad shut Australia out of the contest with a sensiblepartnership for the fourth wicket. They complemented each other well:Shezad didn’t have much of the strike but he played the anchor’s role witha patient 36 while Asad ensured that pressure did not build by finding theboundaries with shots all round the wicket and maintained a healthyrun-rate. They reached the target with 22.1 overs to spare.