With Pakistan at 25-2 in the fifth over against Australia after an opening match loss to India, Umar Akmal joined his brother Kamran at the crease with their side’s World Twenty20 campaign on the line and kept their tournament dream alive. Man-of-the-match Akmal smashed a T20I career-high 94 off just 54 balls to steer Pakistan to 191-5 and a 16-run victory – their first of the competition – at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday, with a second loss on the competition all but certainly spelling the end of their semi-final ambitions.
‘It is really the best innings of my life, mainly because of the kind of pressure the team was under after losing the first game,’ Akmal said after the match, crediting others in the Pakistan set-up for his confident innings. ‘The team management and the seniors told me to express myself, and I thank them for this message. It helped me score big, as these words made me confident. I play positively despite all the pressure. I took it over me, and played my shots.’
Akmal also praised the Pakistan bowling attack for rescuing the match after a thunderous start to the Australian innings, courtesy Aaron Finch’s 65 and Glenn Maxwell’s blistering 74 off 33 balls, left the batting side needing just 75 runs from the last 10 over with eight wickets still in hand.
The assault gave some Pakistani fans nightmarish flashbacks to the 2010 World T20 semi-final in St Lucia, when Pakistan posted 191-6 – the same total on the board on Sunday – only to watch helplessly as Michael Hussey steered the Australians to victory in the final over. Akmal led Pakistan with a half-century on that day too, but he said on Sunday that the team did not feel the same sense of foreboding their supporters did.
‘We didn’t think about that game. Our bowling is really good, so I never thought we would lose the game. There’s no doubt that Glenn Maxwell hit very well, but our bowlers came back well,’ said Akmal, whose fine form in Bangladesh in the last month continued. He hit 33 in the loss to India and also posted an ODI century and two fifties during the Asia Cup.
The pressure now shifts onto the Australians, who find themselves in the same situation Pakistan just faced earlier, sporting an 0-1 record in the Super 10s and knowing that another loss would likely mean elimination from semi-final contention.
Australian captain George Bailey said after the match that his side were now probably in a position where they had to win out the rest of the way.
‘Most probably. I think you start these tournaments with that mentality, of winning everything and maybe you’re able to lose one,’ said Bailey, who was left to wonder how the game got away from his side after a remarkable fight back saw them go ahead in the match at one stage.
‘I don’t know; just a shift in momentum. I certainly found it pretty hard to get going, whether to take that risk and knowing they had probably, as most teams do, five or six overs from their best bowlers left; Afridi, Ajmal and Gul all bowled really well.’
Australia next take on the West Indies on Friday, while Pakistan have a week off before their next match against hosts Bangladesh.
-With New Age input
