-Shahid ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi boots S/Africa out of final with bat and ball
NOTTINGHAM, England, CMC – All-rounder Shahid `Boom Boom’ Afridi uncorked one of his top performances and ignited Pakistan to a seven-run victory over previously unbeaten South Africa in the ICC World Twenty20 Championship yesterday.
After top-scoring with a half-century in Pakistan’s total of 149 for four, Afridi then bowled a stiff four overs including two wickets with his tricky leg-spin as the South Africans struggled to 142 for five off their 20 overs at Trent Bridge.
“I am very, very happy to see my team in the final,” Afridi said after the fabulous win.
The Pakistanis are now through to Sunday’s final against the winners of today’s second semi-final between West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Afridi belted eight boundaries in a shot-filled 51 off just 34 balls against a diligent South African bowling attack.
Shoaib Malik (34) and captain Younis Khan, with an unbeaten 24 off 18 balls, were the other chief scorers for Pakistan.
The young left-arm pacer Wayne Parnell again advertised his promise. The 19-year-old delivered a tidy four overs for 26 runs, with one wicket, the early dismissal of Shahzaib Hasan without scoring in his first over. Jean-Paul Duminy (1-14), Dale Steyn (1-28) and Roelof van der Merwe (1-29) chipped in with a wicket each.
South Africa conceded only 29 off the last five overs and Pakistan finished with a total that did not appear threatening to the Proteas, who entered the match boasting a 100 per cent win record in the tournament.
But after Jacques Kallis and captain Graeme Smith posted 40 for the first wicket, Afridi struck telling blows to cheaply remove danger men Herschelle Gibbs (5) and AB de Villiers (1) and reduced the South Africans to 50 for three in the ninth over. Later in the innings Duminy failed to connect on some big shots as they tried to get their run-rate on par.
Pakistan’s bowling was tight and they drove home the advantage.
Umar Gul, adept at producing yorkers, conceded just six runs off the penultimate over and South Africa entered the last over – bowled by Mohammed Aamer — needing a possible but unlikely 23 runs to win.
Kallis top-scored with 64 off 54 balls with seven fours and one six and Duminy finished on 44 not out off 39 balls.
Afridi conceded just 16 runs from his quota of four overs to complete a match-winning all-round effort.
“The captain and the coach gave me confidence. I enjoyed batting, bowling and fielding,” Afridi said.
“It was our last chance. This is the semi-final. I was just trying to keep wicket to wicket, there was some turn and bounce,” he added.
Saeed Ajmal (1-23) also posted a good economy rate of 5.75 and Gul (0-19) and Abdul Razzaq (0-19) both delivered at 6.33 per over, which proved pivotal.
