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Kiwis book their
berth for the Semis with a 51-run win over Pak |
October 25, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
 New
Zealand became the first team to book a berth in
the semis of the Champions Trophy after a
professional 51-run victory over Pakistan at
Mohali today. It was once again Captain cool
Stephen Fleming leading from the front with 80
to his name that had enabled the Kiwis to put up
a huge total after they were put into bat first.
A target of 275 it was for Pakistan and a shaky
start didn’t help them in reaching anywhere near
that figure. The Black Caps had kept their cool
despite a big fifth wicket partnership between
Yousuf and Malik along with the dew that hit the
outfield big time.
Both sides were a lot worried about the dew
factor and both Captains would have fielded
first after winning the toss. It was Younis Khan
who was the lucky man and without any hesitation
he put the Kiwis in. While Pakistan remained
unchanged with their side, New Zealand made a
couple of changes with Peter Fulton and James
Franklin coming in for Hamish Marshall and
Jeetan Patel. A bad start was what the Kiwis
were off to with Lou Vincent playing an
atrocious shot across the line off Umar Gul to
present the first blood for Pak. Rana
Naved-ul-Hasan got NZ two down as he induced
Nathan Astle in playing a reckless drive into
the slips. Fulton the new man in, hung in there
along with his skipper Fleming but just for a
while before he was consumed by Iftikhar’s
inswinger.
The Kiwis so badly needed a partnership to
repair their innings which was now in tatters at
60 for 3. It was Scott Styris who finally turned
out to be the able partner for his skipper and
there was absolutely no stopping as the two
stroke makers got the innings into a decent
shape. The fourth wicket partnership raised 108
runs before Stephen Fleming chipped a simple
return catch to Malik in the 38th over. Stephen
Fleming scored 80 which had come in 105 balls
with the help of 8 fours and a six which
unfortunately hit a spectator right on his
forehead! Like Fleming, Styris was also unlucky
to miss out on a century as his big hit off Umar
Gul failed to clear Iftikhar at long off. Styris
was struggling with his back in the later part
of his innings which had forced him to bat with
a runner in form of Lou Vincent. Styris fell at
a personal score of 86 which had come in 113
balls with 10 boundaries.
New Zealand finished their innings in grand
style through some fireworks from Jacob Oram to
begin with and then Brendon McCullum who were
instrumental in taking their side to 274 for 7.
Oram made a quick fire 31 from 26 which also had
a six while Brendon McCullum eased his way to a
13-ball 27 with 3 fours and a six. Pakistan’s
fielding was terrible, often school boys’ stuff
that allowed so many free runs to the
opposition. The bowling wasn’t that good giving
away length deliveries and too many short
deliveries with plenty of room for the batsmen
to play the big shots in the last few overs.
The pitch was expected to assist some lateral
movement for the first 10 overs of the innings
under lights, so it wasn’t that easy for
Pakistan to get going. Imran Farhat as usual
fell playing a rash shot, slashing Shane Bond’s
harmless half tracker to the thirdman fielder.
But the real big one for the Kiwis was the
wicket of Captain Younis Khan’s who didn’t
bother to keep his cut shot down the ground off
Kyle Mills to be taken at point. Mohammad Hafeez
who looked good in his brief essay was also gone
trying to play a forcing shot to a rising
delivery from Oram. Hafeez had played well
though scoring 43 from 46 which helped in
keeping a check on the required run rate. Shahid
Afridi was bounced out by Jacob Oram as the
former top edged his hook shot to Bond who was
standing in the 15 yards circle at short fine
leg. It was 83 for 4 in the 17th over and it
looked like a difficult task for Pak to get the
remaining runs.
Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik batted sensibly
well for their team and in due course got their
side back in reckoning. Their partnership was
also strengthened with the dew that settled down
to beat the APSA-80 chemical that was sprayed
before the match. The Kiwis were a concerned lot
as both batsmen didn’t look like getting out
unless they played a bad shot. It was a bad shot
played by Mohammad Yousuf that had got NZ back
in the hunt. Yousuf looking to play a square
drive couldn’t control his bat handle well
enough to slash Shane Bond straight to mid off.
Yousuf’s knock was cut short to 71 which had
taken him 92 balls and had 9 boundaries
including few sweet off drives.
If there was one thing that was slightly going
out of Pak’s favour was the runs required from
the balls remaining which now became 83 from the
final 10 overs! Although Pakistan had clean
hitters right till Rao Iftikhar it wasn’t that
realistic under pressure. And pressure had got
better of the Pakistani batsmen who threw their
wickets in desperation as they couldn’t cope up
with the enormous challenge in their hands.
Razzaq was caught at long on playing a
cross-batted shot off Bond and following him
back in the pavilion soon was Shoaib Malik.
Daniel Vettori with the last ball of his 10
overs quota had deceived Malik in the air to
beat the right hander’s intentions of hitting
him out of the park. Shoaib Malik scored 52 from
70 balls with four boundaries. The innings and
the match came to an end in the 47th over with
Kamra Akmal dragging his lofted shot off Mills
to Fleming at short mid wicket. Shane Bond who
didn’t bowl as quick as he could took three
wickets for 45 in his 10. Kyle Mills and Jacob
Oram took a couple of wickets. It was Stephen
Fleming, leading the Kiwis for a world-record
194th time who got the Man of the Match award.
Sri Lanka have now been eliminated out of the
tournament following this NZ win.
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