New Zealand beat England in the first semifinal on Wednesday to make it to their first-ever ICC T20 World Cup final. Meanwhile, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar in his recent Youtube video has said that he wants a New Zealand-Pakistan final on Sunday. He further said this will give the Pakistan side a chance to avenge the Kiwis from pulling out from a series earlier this year due to ‘security concerns.
Pakistan who are the only unbeaten side in the tournament so far face Australia in the second semifinal in Dubai later tonight (November 11). The Kiwis meanwhile beat England by five wickets on the back of Daryl Mitchell and a certain Jimmy Neesham whose static picture after the Kiwi win is going viral.
“Now, I want New Zealand to face Pakistan in the finals, because they have a psychological pressure of facing us. But for the first time, Pakistan has to play one of the most amazing cricket ever against Australia tomorrow. I can see that Pak-NZ in the finals. But Pakistan has to cross the river of fire to become the finalists.”
Shoaib Akhtar Critical Of England’s Approach
Pakistan earlier beat the Kiwis in the group stage. Meanwhile, Shoaib Akhtar was critical of Eoin Morgan’s approach in the game as a skipper. Akhtar felt that England played around a little too much with the batting order and the 18th over by Adil Rashid was a mistake on Morgan’s part. The leggie gave away 14 runs and picked up the crucial wicket of Jimmy Neesham in the process.
“England sent out a very poor batting order. Livingstone and Morgan should’ve batted up the order. If they would’ve come to bat at the 12th or 13th over, the score would’ve surely touched 170-175. But it wasn’t to be. When it came to strategy of Morgan, I didn’t like it at all. When Livingstone got a wicket in the 16th over, Morgan should’ve given the ball to Rashid in the next over itself.”
Australia-Pakistan have a 3-all record in ICC T20 World Cups. Pakistan overall enjoy an advantage of 13-9. Australia beat the Men in Green the last time they played a T20 World Cup semi-final back in 2010.
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