Colombo: Pakistan spinners made life miserable for Australian batsmen winning the match by 32 runs in their final Super Eights match of the World Twenty20, but that could not prevent the Aussies from reaching the last-four stage here on Tuesday.
The good news kept on coming for the Pakistanis, however, as they out-did India on net run rate to also qualify for the semis.
Chasing a target of 150, Pakistan’s spin trio of Raza Hassan, Mohammed Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal restricted the Aussies to 117 for seven.
Australia needed to reach the target of 112 in order to ensure a semi-final berth and Mike Hussey, with an innings of 54 off 47 balls, ensured his team had enough runs to move into the round of four.
Ajmal, with three for 17, was well complemented by Hafeez and Raza who chipped in with a couple of wickets each.
It was rookie left-arm spinner Raza who got the prized scalp of Shane Watson for eight. The ball dipped into the opener as he went for a sweep shot but missed it completely to be adjudged leg-before.
Pakistan skipper Mohammed Hafeez was happy with his side’s superb all-round show. He was was very impressed with young spinner Raza Hasan, who took two wickets and gave away just 14 runs in his four overs to be adjudged the Man-of-the-Match.
“I’m grateful to see the effort put in by the boys. We got the total we wanted, Raza Hasan was brilliant,” he said.
David Warner followed suit as he also tried to sweep his way out of trouble only to be trapped plumb in-front off Hafeez’s bowling.
Skipper George Bailey (15) and Cameron White (12) did hit a six each but lack of match-time showed in their batting as they were unable to read the Pakistani spinners properly.
Earlier, an impressive half century by Nasir Jamshed helped Pakistan post a competitive 149 for six after being put into bat.
“Pakistan outplayed us. The ball turned more, they used spin against us well. You want your top-order to do [most] of the scoring. The challenge will be to get that form back in the semis,” Bailey said. (PTI)