T20 World Cup: Rizwan pulls off a stunner; Babar lives to tell the winning tale & Kane train chugs out of another semifinal

😟😤 🤗🌪️

Babar would have been out for a golden duck. Trent Boult had the ball hold its line outside off from a length and Babar went for an on-the-up straight drive but pushed inside the line. It took the edge but the wicketkeeper Devon Conway couldn’t pouch, falling to his right. Boult covered his face in anguish. The keeper was going the other way initially, to his left, and couldn’t adjust in time.
Rizwan meanwhile had started the first ball with a wink at his critics who have been after him for being weak on the off side. A first ball spank through covers for four had him up and running. Can he keep it up?

– Sriram Veera

Will Rizwan’s push-and-run to mid-on work or … ?

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That’s the concern always in the Powerplay as Mohammad Rizwan likes to dash across after pushing towards mid-on. At times, his partners get out in that fashion. He is very quick of course but he will have to be careful. New Zealand will push that mid-on a touch up, especially with their outside off-line to him. Surprisingly, off the second ball, when the mid-on mis-fielded, he didn’t take the run. But there have been already two other tip-and-runs to mid-on, both relatively safe. A busy player, that’s his preferred mode of rotating the strike; he doesn’t quite bother working it to left or right of mid-on, but can push straight to them and still take his chances. New Zealand need a sharp fielder with an accurate throw there.

– Sriram Veera

A drop that deflated the Kiwi energy 

Kane Williamson is a bit poker-faced but even the ice-cool Kiwi captain let it show. All he did was frown a wee bit and crank his neck to one side. Wicketkeeper Devon Conway had got his gloves to an outside edge from the out-of-form Babar Azam. The bowler Trent Boult had swung the ball in and a tentative Pakistan captain was deceived. It was a momentum-shifting moment. Tim Southee kept it quiet in the next over but when Boult came back, the struggling Babar played his shot of the tournament. A slash through the point region which sounded like a bazooka had gone off. Rizwan got on strike two balls later and found two 4s. The last of those other cracking shots through backward point. Pakistan had just stamped their authority during the powerplay. New Zealand suddenly looked deflated. Babar had found his timing and Mohammad Rizwan was punching his way to quick singles and fours.

– Nihal Koshie

Kiwi spin vs Pak batters

Mitch Santner’s fourth ball in his first over, and team’s 7th, was rather interesting. Usually, he doesn’t toss them up as much. But realising the need for the wicket, he ripped that above the eye line. A beautiful ball that would have gladdened the hearts of Bishen Bedi. It looped and dipped rapidly on Rizwan who squirted it to midwicket. Post a 4, then came the final ball – another classy ball, flighted, landing on off stump line, landing on a length and drifted in to beat the intended drive by Babar Azam. The umpire Erasmus didn’t concur with the lbw appeal and they went upstairs. For all money, it looked like a dead duck at point of impact. No bat, right in front of the stumps, and this Sydney pitch hadn’t shown much bounce so far in the game. Yet the ball-tracker showed it bouncing over the stumps. Finally, now, we have a contest in the chase. It’s going to be New Zealand spinners vs Pakistan batsmen.

– Sriram Veera

With 11 doubles, Mitchell’s SR a handy 151 in last 9 balls

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Daryl Mitchell kept his date with semifinal destiny. He was New Zealand’s hero in the semifinal of last year’s World Cup. He cracked 72 off 47 balls to steal a heist over England. He was New Zealand’s saviour in this semifinal too. He creamed 53 off 35 balls against Pakistan. The circumstances, though, were different. Against England, he had the licence to blast; here he had to bat more warily, as he joined Kane Williamson with New Zealand in crisis. He had to be content ticking singles and nudging twos, though when width-balls arrived, he latched onto them. There was an odd six, when he sashayed down the track to Shadab Khan and swung him over his head. But even still, even if he could not find a four or six in the last nine balls he faced, he struck at a rate of 151, the best among his colleagues. Twos were his lifeline, he ran as many as 11 twos.

– Sandip G

Going…not going…no, going…oh! gone?

🤨🦾🤙🏼😳👆🏼👉🏽

Marais Erasmus took eons to raise his finger on the second ball to signal the dismissal of Fin Allen. Bowler Shaheen Afridi and the men behind the stumps went up immediately but Erasmus stood unmoved. And just when it looked like their appeal, which bordered on pleading, would have no bearing on Erasmus, the umpire signalled out. Allen reviewed the decision instantly and the replays showed a thick inside edge and Erasmus had to reverse his call.
He redeemed himself, however, on the next ball. The second time around, he raised the dreaded finger almost immediately. Allen once again was quick to review but this time, he was plumb in front. Not just the players, the umpire too has been in thick of things right from the first over.

– Mihir Vasavda

Afridi, new ball, in swing – batsmen dead ducks

🔗👀😭

Batsmen would have experienced this or seen it happening to others of their tribe but the one that comes back into the right hander from the very tall left-arm Pakistani pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi is difficult to keep out. New Zealand’s x-factor at the top of the order Finn Allen was Afridi’s latest victim. And like a few before him, Allen didn’t get time to get his eye in (yes that concept still holds value in the shortest format against quality bowling). And before he knew it Afridi was bending it back beautifully. The first ball – a full swinging ball – was hit back for a four. Afridi didn’t get perturbed. The next was full and swinging but Allen got an inside edge and on review the umpire Murray Erasmus had to overturn his onfield decision. Maybe Allen got a false sense of security after just about putting ball to bat. Third ball, swing into him again and Allen tried to hit across the line. Umpire Erasmus got it right this time. Afridi raised his arms and looked skywards to celebrate the LBW. The script had gone his way in the early part of the innings, like it has so many times. His incoming ball to the right hander a batsman’s nightmare.

– Nihal Koshie

Conway – the new Kirsten

👥 👨🏻‍🔬🦸🏻‍♂️

Devon Conway is the new Gary Kirsten. In Tests , he can go all old school on us with his dour defensive play. In T20s he can fly off as he chooses. Like Kirsten, he has a method. Kirsten was one of the early openers who would walk out of the crease to clear the infield when he wanted the big shot. Conway has this ability to rush out to do the same. In between, the off drives flow.

– Sriram Veera

Kane’s royal rumble at sighscreen heels

🤠😡👺😑🫤

Kane Williamson doesn’t get easily flustered but there he was at the World Cup semifinal, animatedly gesticulating his anger. In the 4th over, first there was some disturbance of crowd movement from above the sightscreen. He halted play until couple of people sat down. He still didn’t look too happy, shook his head as he settled into his stance. Then imagine his shock next ball just as he was into his shot, two people walked right across the sightscreen. Williamson lost it. As in he flung his arms and gestured. Did it stop? Nope. Next ball, more movement, this time above sightscreen. Another shake of the head.

– Sriram Veera

Shaabash Shadab: Pak fielding gets crackling – Conway on his way

😅🎳🎣🎽🥇

Barring their slip catching when they get the right people in there, Pakistan’s fielding has historically triggered amusement. They haven’t been great this tournament either, causing Wasim Akram to sigh in television studios. But this semifinal, thus far, they have been electric.

Shadab khan, a very good fielder, flung himself to his left at mid-on to prevent a superb on-drive from Williamson from running to boundary. Then one more dive came at short fine from Haris Rauf to save three runs There was even a direct hit from Naseem Shah from short fine leg to the non strikers’ end. Pakistan had certainly turned up in some mood.

And then came the clincher. Shadab Khan nailed Conway with a direct hit from mid-on. He moved to his right, got a good bounce, and knocked down the stumps from an angle where he possibly could have just managed to see one stump.

– Sriram Veera

Phillips done in by left arm spin ..again

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After spooning a catch back to Mohammad Nawaz, Glenn Phillips swung his bat in anguish. It might not have been just the frustration of getting out at a crucial stage of the match but the repetitiveness of left-arm spinners dismissing him. Of the 38 instances he has gotten out in T20Is, the left-arm spinner was his nemesis on five instances, that is once in nearly eight innings. Twice has Nawaz nailed him too. Phillips, though an exceptional player of off-spin and leg-spin, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana would testify, is susceptible to left-arm spin. On three of the five instances, he was foxed when looking to work them through leg-side. It’s usually a safe shot as most left-armers trade mostly arm-balls in this format. But the Nawaz one gripped the surface, held a bit in the air and spun away a smidgeon. Phillips, as he is prone to, was not upto the pitch of the ball and ended up flicking lazily. A tame return catch was the consequence.

– Sandip G

Kane train arrives, on time

‍🚂🚃🚃🚃🧔‍♂🦹🏻‍♂️

New Zealand’s journey to the semifinals had progressed without any notable contribution from their most pedigreed batsman – arguably the best the country has ever produced – skipper Kane Williamson. A persistent elbow injury had drastically reduced his match appearances and when he did take the field, he seemed a shadow of the player in his pomp.

Scoring runs at a rate acceptable in T20s seemed such a tough task for the member of the so-called global ‘Fab Four’ that often opposition teams preferred to have him on strike to keep the run rate in check. It even prompted speculation whether Kane’s powers had diminished and he would be better advised to focus on the longer formats as his career winds down.

With Joe Root out of T20 reckoning for England and Steve Smith hardly getting a game for Australia in the format, was it the time for a change of guard?

But cometh the knockout game, and Kiwi fans were again left hoping that the great man would find some magic in his locker. Their dynamite opening pair and the dynamic Glenn Phillips were back in the dug-out before the total reached 50, with the run rate languishing around six an over.

But regardless of form and situation, Kane takes his time to settle in. He reached a run-a-ball 28 before launching a short ball from Mohammad Wasim over the long midwicket boundary for a maximum. It seemed Clark Kent had found his Superman garb just in time. Hope, and gratitude, sprung again in Kiwi hearts.

– Tushar Bhaduri

Not everyone is Surya, son

🌵🙋🏻‍♂️☀️🌈

Not everyone can be Suryakumar Yadav – Kane Williamson understood that the hard way even after his batting partner Daryl Mitchell had demonstrated that sweeping pacers isn’t easy. When Shaheen Shah Afridi started the 17th over, New Zealand were going at 7 runs per over and they had lost just three wickets. It was fine to take risks. Afridi bowled a full ball on the stumps, Mitchell went down on his knees and tried to guide it behind the stumps. The fine-leg was inside the 30-yards circle, he just needed to get a touch to get a boundary. He got an edge instead and the ball got stopped by the keeper. They crossed over for a single. Now, Williamson tried the same to a similar Afridi ball. He failed miserably and was clean bowled. Surya has been on everyone’s mind in the WorldT20, but batsmen in the middle need to be wary. It’s not healthy to be this impressionable. Not everyone, like Surya, has played these strokes against his mates as a child during the rubber-ball street-cricket games. They might not even have spent hours before the World T20 perfecting these unconventional strokes.

– Sandeep Dwivedi