PAKISTAN brought sunshine to a gloomy Birmingham day for their ecstatic supporters to maintain their ambitions of reaching another World Cup semi-final. History tells us that Pakistan on a roll are a team to be feared, and this team, written off and abysmal at the start of this World Cup, is beginning to rock and roll when you need to dance to a winning tune.

England and Sri Lanka still need to lose a game but, if they do, Pakistan can qualify by beating Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Pakistan’s run chase against New Zealand had echoes of their semi-final clash in the 1999 World Cup. In a must win game, in a qualification battle thrown wide open by England’s consecutive defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia, Pakistan were set 238 to keep their hopes alive.

Twenty years ago, Pakistan needed 242 to reach a World Cup final, and they did so with a rollicking opening partnership from Saeed Anwar and Wajahatullah Wasti in front of a raucous full house at Old Trafford setting off firecrackers at every boundary.

Here at Edgbaston, the pitch was slow, the ball reluctant to come on to the bat, the chase more stodgy and nerve-racking, going to the last over. Fakhar Zaman fell early to a leading edge. Imam-ul-Haq looked good until he gloved a lifter to gulley. Hafeez overcame his frailties on the front foot against Lockie Ferguson and a sharp bouncer that struck the brim of his helmet, to begin to dominate on the back foot, only to gift his wicket with a heave to square leg.

Shaheen Afridi’s memorable spell rips NZ batting apart

At 110 for 3, with New Zealand’s spinners turning the ball sharply, even 128 runs looked distant. But the vanquisher of South Africa, Haris Sohail, joined Babar Azam and once more helped the innings to safety. Haris was uncomplicated, finding the gaps and occasionally making room to dab through wide man or easing into a fluent drive. Haris was willing to use his feet and launch over the ropes on his way to a second fifty.

But the star of the show was Babar, scoring a century to win a match, an innings that his status craves. And the manner of his triumph will probably be of greatest benefit to him. This wasn’t the classy Babar we know, all fluency and upright style. This Babar was as stodgy as the pitch, hitting the ball with a clunk of his bat.

Great teams, they say, know how to win ugly, and Babar played it ugly for the first half of his innings. Everything that usually comes so easily to him was a struggle. But he battled through. He fought and ground it out, and when the touch and panache returned he was sensational again.

But a sensation who had matured from a showman to complete finisher in the space of a crucial World Cup match for his country.

After a comprehensive win over South Africa it was no surprise that Pakistan stuck with the same eleven at Edgbaston, especially since the back-up options in the squad are limited. Conditions were overcast and heavy overnight rain delayed the start for an hour, allowing Pakistani fans plenty of time to fill the ground.

The behaviour of a few supporters was rightly criticised after the India defeat, but overall this Pakistan team is lucky to enjoy such passionate support away from home.

Williamson falls

Mohammad Amir picked up where he left off with a first ball wicket, inducing Martin Guptill to play on. But that was as good as it got for Amir, who failed to show the discipline of his previous performances and ended up as Pakistan’s most expensive bowler. The rest of the bowling attack made up for him, though, with Shadab Khan taking the crucial wicket of Kane Williamson.

Williamson was busy holding his team’s innings together, to justify his decision to bat first, but was the final act in a collapse that left New Zealand on 83 for 5. The architect of their demise was Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan’s young left arm pace bowler. Afridi bowled an immaculate spell, tight on line and length, and extracting just enough movement from the fresh track to invite the edge.

Shaheen was flying, conceding only 28 runs from his 10 overs.

Regulation catches by Haris and Sarfraz Ahmed sandwiched a spectacular one-handed diving effort by Sarfraz to dismiss Ross Taylor. Pakistan indeed begin to look like genuine title contenders once they start holding their catches.

There was resistance from New Zealand. As well as Pakistan bowled, Jimmy Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme had a clear plan to ensure that their team batted its full overs. They might have pushed for quick runs earlier than they did, but they showed that the wicket and conditions were good enough to sustain their 132 run partnership. De Grandhomme was run out, greedily pushing for a second, and Neesham pushed on to get within three of his hundred and lift New Zealand to an under par 237 for 6.

Shaheen’s outstanding spell, backed by excellent catching, took control of the match for Pakistan, but in the final reckoning the match will be best remembered for the way Babar Azam took his status from star batsman to World Cup match winner. Class is permanent but impact is memorable.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
M.J. Guptill b Amir 5 4 1 0 125.00
C. Munro c Haris b Shaheen 12 17 2 0 70.58
K.S. Williamson c Sarfraz b Shadab 41 69 4 0 59.42
L.R.P.L. Taylor c Sarfraz b Shaheen 3 8 0 0 37.50
T.W.M. Latham c Sarfraz b Shaheen 1 14 0 0 7.14
J.D.S. Neesham not out 97 112 5 3 86.60
C. de Grandhomme run out 64 71 6 1 90.14
M.J. Santner not out 5 5 0 0 100.00

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-3, W-4) 9 - - - —
TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 237 - - - —
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5 (Guptill, 1.1 ov), 2-24 (Munro, 6.2 ov), 3-38 (Taylor, 8.6 ov), 4-46 (Latham, 12.3 ov), 5-83 (Williamson, 26.2 ov), 6-215 (de Grandhomme, 47.4 ov).

DID NOT BAT: M.J. Henry, L.H. Ferguson, T.A. Boult.
BOWLING: Mohammad Hafeez 7-0-22-0; Mohammad Amir 10-0-67-1 (2w); Shaheen Shah Afridi 10-3-28-3; Imad Wasim 3-0-17-0; Shadab Khan 10-0-43-1; Wahab Riaz 10-0-55-0 (2w).

PAKISTAN:

Batsmen & mode of dismissals R B 4s 6s SR
Imam-ul-Haq c Guptill b Ferguson 19 29 3 0 65.51
Fakhar Zaman c Guptill b Boult 9 10 2 0 90.00
Babar Azam not out 101 127 11 0 79.52
M. Hafeez c Ferguson b Williamson 32 50 5 0 64.00
Haris Sohail run out 68 76 5 2 89.47
Sarfraz Ahmed not out 5 3 1 0 166.66

EXTRAS (W-7) 7 - - - —
TOTAL (for four wkts, 49.1 overs) 241 - - - —
FALL OF WKTS: 1-19 (Fakhar, 2.6 ov), 2-44 (Imam, 10.2 ov), 3-110 (Hafeez, 24.5 ov), 4-236 (Haris, 48.3 ov).
DID NOT BAT: Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
BOWLING: Boult 10-0-48-1; Henry 7-0-25-0; Ferguson 8.1-0-50-1 (4w);
de Grandhomme 2-0-12-0; Santner 10-0-38-0; Neesham 3-0-20-0 (1w); Williamson 8-0-39-1 (1w); Munro 1-0-9-0 (1w).

RESULT: Pakistan won by six wickets.
UMPIRES: B.N.J. Oxenford (Australia) and P.R. Reiffel (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: P. Wilson (Australia).
MATCH REFEREE: R.B. Richardson (West Indies).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Babar Azam

STANDINGS
(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no-result, points, net run-rate):
Australia 7 6 1 0 12 +0.906
New Zealand 7 5 1 1 11 +1.028
India 5 4 0 1 9 +0.809
England 7 4 3 0 8 +1.051
Bangladesh 7 3 3 1 7 -0.133
Pakistan 7 3 3 1 7 -0.976
Sri Lanka 6 2 2 2 6 -1.119
West Indies 6 1 4 1 3 +0.190
South Africa 7 1 5 1 3 -0.324
Afghanistan 7 0 7 0 0 -1.634

Updated after Pakistan vs New Zealand match on Wednesday

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2019