Pakistan spinners strangle Australia

Dilanka MANNAKKARA reporting from R.Premadasa stadium

Led by spin magician Saeed Ajmal and youngster Raza Hasan, the Pakistani spinners strangled the strong Australian batting line up to crush them by a massive margin of 32 runs, but Australia qualified for the Semi Finals based on their better Nett run rate. The Pakistani spinners bowled with great control and immaculate accuracy to defend a modest score of 149 at the R.Premadasa stadium in front of a massive crowd. Australia ended up with 117 runs for the loss of 7 wickets thus recording their first ever defeat in the T 20 World cup 2012.

Ajmal took 3 for 17 runs of his 4 overs while the promising left arm spinner Raza Hasan who yet again opened the bowling finished with superb figures of 2 for 14 in his overs.Raza got rid of danger man Shane Watson LBW trying to slog the ball away for just 8 runs.

Austrailia who once again banked on the blistering Watson and the explosive Warner to provide them with a fiery start struggled to get going against Pakistan’s spinners.Skipper Mohommad Hafeez opted to bowl his spinners from both ends and removed Dave Warner for 8 of his own bowling soon after Watson was dismissed.The Pakistani spinners bowled superb lines and accurate lengths aided by just enough turn to beat the bat while the Australians had to huff and puff trying to read the subtle variations. Only Mike Hussey showed some intent and authority with a courageous 54 off 47 balls. Hussey who had to rebuild the innings while rotating the strike and hitting the boundaries as well didn’t find adequate support from any of his team mates but he ensured that Australia reached the target of 112 which was needed for them to qualify for the Semi Finals.

Australia won the toss and elected to field and restricted the Pakistani line up for 149 runs for the loss of 6 wickets with Mitchel Starc bowling with rapid pace and swinging the ball at will. Starc pinned Pakistan's captain Mohammad Hafeez lbw with his first ball to push the batsmen onto the defensive, and should also have dismissed Nasir Jamshed for a duck. But Glenn Maxwell dropped the catch at slip, allowing Jamshed to go on to a vital 55.

With Pakistan losing their openers for just 29 runs on the board,Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal build a valuable partnership of 79 runs for the third wicket before Jamshed was caught at long on,of Dohetry. Pakistan lost their next set batsmen,Kamran Akmal the following over and they were once again in trouble. Abdul Razzaq was sent ahead of the maverick Shahid Afridi and he could only muster 22 runs as Pakistan ended up on 149 in their 20 overs.

SCORECARD
		Pakistan

Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Starc 		 04 
Imran Nazir  c Bailey b Watson 		 14 
Nasir Jamshed  c Warner b Doherty 	 55
Kamran Akmal c White b Starc 		 32 
Umar Akmal not out 			 09 
Abdul Razzaq c Watson b Cummins 	 22 
Shahid Afridi b Starc 			 04 
Shoaib Malik not out 			 04 
Extras: (lb2, w3) 			 05 
Total (for six wickets in 20 overs) 	149 









Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Hafeez), 2-29 (Nazir)
		 3-108 (Jamshed), 4-108 (K. Akmal)
		 5-136 (Razzaq), 6-144 (Afridi)








Bowling: Doherty 4-0-27-1 (w1)
	 Starc 4-0-20-3
	 Watson 4-0-23-1 (w1)
	 Cummins 4-0-42-1 (w1)
	 Maxwell 1-0-6-0
	 Hogg 3-0-29-0
									
									

											
									

		Australia

S. Watson lbw b Hasan 			 08 
D. Warner lbw b Hafeez 			 08 
M. Hussey not out 			 54 
G. Bailey lbw b Ajmal 			 15 
C. White c Nazir b Hafeez 		 12 
G. Maxwell c Hafeez b Hasan 		 04 
M. Wade b Ajmal 			 13 
P. Cummins lbw b Ajmal 			 00 
M. Starc not out 			 01 
Extras: (b1, w1) 			 02 
Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 	117 










Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Watson), 2-19 (Warner)
		 3-44 (Bailey), 4-58 (White)
		 5-65 (Maxwell), 6-110 (Wade)
		 7-110 (Cummins)









Bowling: Hafeez 4-0-22-2
	 Hasan 4-0-14-2
	 Ajmal 4-0-17-3 (w1)
	 Afridi 4-0-33-0
	 Malik 2-0-19-0
	 Gul 2-0-11-0