Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene says Pakistan’s bowlers did not place enough pressure on Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis during the latter stages of the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final.
With a target of 177, Australia needed 50 runs in the final four overs to win. Wade (41* off 17) bowled a brilliant innings to get the Aussies home with an over to spare. Stoinis contributed as well, with an undefeated 40 off 31.
In his post-match press conference, Jayawardene described Pakistan’s end-of-innings bowling strategy as “quite typical.”
“The only criticism of the Pakistan bowlers would be that they did not bowl those wide lines, going away from those arcs. It was very conventional. It was either the yorker, slower ball or back of a length. The two Australian batsmen (Wade and Stoinis) did premeditate. They picked up a few balls, executed (their shots) and put a lot of pressure on those bowlers.” he explained
While the two Australian hitters rose to the occasion, Pakistan, according to Jayawardene, failed to execute their plans in the final overs.
“The two batters showed amazing maturity. They thrived on the situation and the Pakistani bowlers, under pressure, did not execute their plans.” He added
Mohammad Rizwan
Pakistan had Australia on the mat at 96 for 5 after defending a total of 176, which was built around fifties from Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman. Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf, on the other hand, gave up a lot of runs before Wade struck Shaheen Afridi for three consecutive sixes to end the game.
Pakistan should be happy of their achievement, according to former India bowler Ajit Agarkar, despite their semi-final defeat. He stated that Pakistan was the superior of the two sides in the tournament, but Australia, as they frequently do, elevated their game on the big day.
“Pakistan have been the better team in the tournament but Australia turned up in the game that mattered. Pakistan will learn from this experience. There are a lot of young guys in the team. They put up a very mature performance.” Agarkar said
Therefore, On Sunday, Australia will meet New Zealand in the final in Dubai. Because no team has ever won the T20 World Cup, there will be a new winner this year.
Read more: Matthew Wade says “Glenn Maxwell at the other end heard the noise” in T20 World cup 2021
Visit also: Matthew Wade explains why David Warner didn’t review the caught behind against Pakistan: T20 World cup 2021
[…] Visit also: Mahela Jayawardene reckons that Pakistan’s bowlers did not exert enough pressure on Matthew Wade a… […]