Holders West Indies sailed into the semis after Dwayne Bravo’s power-hitting and Samuel Badree’s lethal spin bowling fashioned their comprehensive 84-run victory over Pakistan. PHOTO: REUTERS
Defending champions West Indies charged into the World Twenty20 semi-finals with a spectacular 84-run win over Pakistan in a key Super-10 match in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The West Indies recovered from a top-order meltdown to post 166 for six after electing to take first strike, before three wickets each by spin twins Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine skittled Pakistan for 82 in 17.5 overs.
The West Indies, who finished second behind unbeaten India in Group 2, will clash with Group 1 winners Sri Lanka in the first semi-final in Dhaka on Thursday. India, who won all their four league matches, meet South Africa at the same venue on Friday.
The final will take place in Dhaka on Sunday.
It was the first time Pakistan, finalists in the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 and champions in 2009, failed to reach the knock-out rounds in the five editions of the tournament.
The West Indies slumped to 81 for five before skipper Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo led a dramatic rescue act by adding 71 for the sixth wicket off just 32 balls.
Bravo smashed four sixes and two fours in a 26-ball 46, while Sammy remained unbeaten on 42 off 20 balls that contained five fours and two sixes.
The West Indies plundered 71 runs in the last four overs, taking 21 runs in the 18th bowled by seamer Umar Gul and 24 in the 19th by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
Pakistan never recovered after Ahmed Shehzad, who scored a century in the previous match against Bangladesh, was leg-before to Krishmar Santokie off the first ball of the innings.
Badree removed Kamran Akmal in the second over, Umar Akmal in the fourth and Shoaib Malik in the sixth to leave Pakistan tottering at 13 for four.
Skipper Mohammad Hafeez (19) and Sohaib Maqsood (18) fell in successive overs to make it 42 for six, before Narine removed Shahid Afridi and Sohail Tanvir in four balls to hasten the end.
“I didn’t expect it to be so easy as we have a bowling line-up that can defend any total but Pakistan had our batting in a bit of a bother earlier,” said Bravo, with a gleeful face after victory.
West Indies openers fail to make impression
Earlier, the West Indies lost both openers by the fourth over, with Chris Gayle stumped off Hafeez for five and Dwayne Smith caught behind off Tanvir for eight.
Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuel added 39 for the third wicket when both batsmen fell in the 11th over to reduce the West Indies to 67 for four.
Lendl was run out for a 29-ball 31 while attempting a cheeky single, while Samuels was bowled by Shahid Afridi for 20 after striking a six off the previous delivery.
In the death, Sammy and Bravo stepped in to play what turned out to be match-winning knocks.
Earlier, Australia beat Bangladesh in their last group match but the match didn’t drive much attention as both teams were already knocked out of the tournament.
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Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2014.
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COMMENTS (47)
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@wierdity,indian reader, and specially jim: I came looking for you today. haha haha. That's me laughing my head off at the expense of you Indians. Lol
Hey @Aamer, came looking for you. Still laughing your head off at crying faces of Indians at the end of the match against SA :) ? Or have you committed suicide?
@indian reader....hahaha you Indians are unbelievable, still trolling!! I'll surely laugh but that would be at the expense of Indians tomorrow :-) ciao
@Aamer: India's record against SA in T20I is Played 7 India won 5 SA won 2 India's record against Pak in T2oI is Played 6 India won 4 Pak won 1 Tied 1 India's bowlers has won more ICC trophies than Pakistan's over hyped super bowlers. Now go and laugh at your great chokers team.
Somebody in ths forum said Shahid Afridi should be the captain and i second that. I am from India (living in US) and i watched the full Pak-WI match (courtsy ESPN). The only one who seemed to have the competitive spirit in him was Afridi. He bowled like a champ and is a good all rounder. He batted well but was unlucky to go early. I thought he should have been sent in early and that would have given him time to settle down. One should not expect him to make runs everytime but when he does, his team wins.
@ IKnowIt; well said!
@IKnowIt: UKnowIt but you can't do anything about it.
@Aamer: does it not worry you that Pakistan lost to a lowly club level like team according to your highly thoughtful opinion? :-)
@Zaid Hamid: absolutely! Should be ever vigilant against Zionist and Hindu conspiracy against the Pakistan team! :-)
No worries. You still can hope for India to lose so you can celebrate.:-)
@Gurion; totally agree...! just look at the comments here... most of them show us as immersed in a blame culture - neurotics...!!
They need to play as a team , every tried to play as a hero , no team efforts. not able to handle the pressure.
gloting over Kohli's cries, now have it!!!
@IKnowIt:
In fact, the entire country does.
Such a shame that he apologizes as if he can get away with performing like this by just saying sorry. It is simple, Hafeez doesn't have the makings of a great or good captain. He just simply lacks talent. I kid you not my fellow Pakistanis, i kid you not that except one or two players, our WHOLE team, our WHOLE team is a rip off. All of them are in the team using some whatever source in the PCB. Our cricket board is wrought with political figures, such a management is bound to fail.
Now to the performances, i would say, seriously, Hafeez, Akmal brothers, Shoaib Malik, Umer Gul must be excluded from the team and should not be allowed to come back until Pakistan cricket is cured from this disease of mediocrity. How shameless of PCB to include Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik in T20 World Cup, what gem of a performance they showed in their past that secured them a place in T20 WCup squad!?. I've said it before and i will say it again, Umer Gul is not and cannot be an attack bowler, his physique says it all, getting one or two wickets after every two or three games is not talent or attack bowler attributes. Our team will fail, it will fail rigorously on international events and charts with the kind of management they have.
Lastly i would say, never have i missed Saeed Anwar, Inzimam ul Haq, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Mohammad Yosuf, Moin Khan, Abdul Razzaq so much as i have missed them yesterday. Those players made us stand and walk tall everywhere. Five to ten years from now, everybody would be saying that the era of Misbah ul Haq and Mohammad Hafeez was perhaps the darkest era of Pakistan cricket in the history. Our current players, they're arrogant and shameless to retain their places in the team even after such deplorable performances, the downfall is imminent. The only player who ever showed some frustration on the team's performance was Shahid Afridi, the only man in my opinion, to now lead our team and become the Captain.
given the fact that our country is going through turmoil... i think pak cricket has done well over the years... yes malik should definately be out...WI played fearlessly whereas in our case it was the opposite.... koi baat nahin
Big question is will Hafeez step down as captain, and will Kamran and Malik step out of the team.
What a six by Afridi. Truly Afridi is a great player.He should play at least for the next 15 years
Indian trolls should worry about their over rated team with just 2 batsmen and club level bowlers. They have already over achieved reaching the semis. This fluke won't continue for long. I'll be laughing my head off at crying faces of Indians at the end of the match against SA :) Now shoo Indians, go pollute your own sites
If Pakistan & India want to exchange two present cricket players from each team, which would you prefer? Can any one tell me. One name I know from Indian Team.
I really don't know why our team were so afraid and fans of Pakistan's team were so dejected. there was no planning and lack of confidence. How it is possible for a team to win with these kind of conditions anyways we lost that match badly.
Something really strange. Pakistan didnt even try to win. Everyone was just coming down the wicket instead of hitting the ball.
Too much talking from Pakistani ex-players, current players and fans prior to the tournament. Now you have plenty of time to think and talk. Hard luck Pakistan.
Disheartening to see Indians gloating over Pakistan's loss.
Our own team is mired in utter corruption and is leading the world in destroying honest cricket and we are celebrating the loss of Pakistan.
We should be mourning at the death of honesty in cricket in India.
Nothing to worry I was April fool by Pakistan Team
Losing to Wi holds no meaning when we compare it to the fact that we had the honour of having great evergreen sifarshi such as kamran akmal, shoaib malik and hafeez in our team, what else do we want?
Such a disappointing performance from Pakistan team. I think they forgot how to play spin bollowing. 3-4 stumping. They don't deserve to play in semi's. A Lost a golden chance lost by India to beat them in final like 2007
Finally, people will get rid of with the aweful T20 anthem........
What happen, No comment? HAHA Where are keyboard warrior?
It will take a change of Pakistani cricket players to recover from this drubbing in Mirpur +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And West Indies played like World Champions.
Today crowd support was towards W.I. and they are celebrating Pakistani wickets and Bravo batting damm..
The Pakistani team should not take the early flight back home. Instead, they should stick around and watch some real cricket.
I hope this will at least end all the nonsense spewed about great team, greatest bowler, the hysteria to defeat India, etc. It's just a game. You win some, you lose some. You have good days, you have days. It was a bad day. It's still a good team.
Small hearts, small results... Lolzzzz Thrashed or crushed sounds better, not stumped.
The match looked fishy the way WI batted all of a sudden from 15th Over. ICC must look into.
We can win one or two matches in a tournament but cannot win final in presence of Akmal, Malik and Afridi.
I told you so. Pakistan team needs a psychologist.
Win and lose is part of the game BUT the bigger question is what is Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal doing in the team. Both should be forced to retire and Umar Akmal as well for that matter....
Big Three hahahahahaha..... Now smallest one is out. Arrogance kills.
ET please update your website so that I can also post in comment section the pictures of Pakistan players especially of Hafeez when Bravo and Sammy was batting because those expressions are funnier than of Kohli of Asia cup match
And also Pakistan bowling is the best in the world hahaha...
That's right let people like Shoaib Malik play, only good things will happen. Hafeez is a pathetic player and an even more pathetic captain. We've got a pretty solid ODI lineup, why not use it? Why does Hafeez allow people like Malik and Kamran to play?
No team collapses like that and no batsmen walk out of their crease this way. Wonder what our team saw/heard/were offered in Bangladesh. This was self destruct as soon as the innings started.
I am happy pakistan lost. It was a punishment from God For descriminating Against deserving player such as Fawad Alam. You reap what you sow