New Delhi: A hard-fought innings from Marcus Stoinis (31-ball 40) and Matthew Wade's (17-ball 41) hat-trick of sixes in the 19th over powered Australia to a five-wicket win over Pakistan on Thursday in the second semi-final of the 2021 T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and book a place in the finals. Australia will now face New Zealand in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final on Sunday. For Pakistan, Shadab Khan was the pick of bowler as he ended his spell taking four wickets for just 26 runs.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and asked Pakistan to bat first who set a mammoth target of 177 runs in 1st innings. Opener Mohammad Rizwan played an excellent innings of 67 runs with help of three fours and four sixes. Fakhar Zaman too emerged as the star performer for his team as he played an explosive unbeaten innings of 55 runs off 32 balls. During his half-century innings, Fakhar hit three fours and four sixes.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan once again got Pakistan off to a great start. Both added 71 runs for the first wicket. Babar got out after scoring 39 runs in an attempt to hit a six. However, Rizwan steadied Pakistan's innings and went on to score his third half-century in the tournament.
Fakhar Zaman came to bat at number three after the first wicket fell for 71 runs. He led the innings with Rizwan, and also scored runs at a fast pace. Fakhar completed his fifty in just 31 balls. However, after Rizwan's dismissal, Asif Ali, who came to bat, was dismissed for a duck. Shoaib Malik was also dismissed after scoring just one run.
Pat Cummins gave only three runs in the 19th over. Then it seemed that Pakistan would be able to reach only close to 170. But in the last over, Fakhar took the score beyond 175 by hitting two sixes off Mitchell Starc's over. A total of 15 runs were scored in the last over. Mohammad Hafeez returned unbeaten after scoring one run.
Adam Zampa bowled very cheaply for Australia. He conceded just 22 runs in his four overs, and took one wicket. Mitchell Starc took two wickets, but he proved to be very expensive. Pat Cummins also got a wicket.