Pakistan enters ICC World Twenty20 final

Nottingham: Power and aggression were followed by precision and craft. Shahid Afridi, oozing belief, raised his arm in triumph. After his blaze of strokes with the willow, Afridi conjured a display of influential leg-spin as a charged-up Pakistan ambushed favourite South Africa by seven runs in the first ICC World Twenty20 semifinalat Trent Bridge on Thursday. A sea of supporters greeted Pakistan's victory.

Once again, South Africa succumbed to the pressures of the big stage in a knock-out situation. Pursuing 150, the side fell seven runs short.
If Afridi - adjudged Man of the Match - opened the path for Pakistan, outstanding paceman Umar Gul all but closed out the game. Remarkably, Gul, bowling those searing full-length deliveries with stunning accuracy, conceded just six runs apiece in the crucial 17th and 19th overs when the South Africans were seeking the big hits. Gul forced the batsmen to dig out yorkers instead.

South Africa needed 45 off the last four. After Gul's immaculate bowling, 23 were required from the final over.Younis flung the ball to the young Mohammed Amir. Jean Paul Duminy (44 not out) swung the second and the fourth balls for a six and a boundary but the huge blows came too late in the day for South Africa.

Earlier, Jacques Kallis (64), marshalling the chase, was caught nervelessly by Shoaib Malik at long-on after striking out against off-spinner Saeed Ajmal's doosra in the 18th over. The Pakistanis also lifted their fielding. Fawad Alam hit the stumps from long-off, catching Albie Morkel short at the non-striker's end in the final over.

South Africa began the chase confidently with Kallis striking the pacemen with typical fluency between point and cover off either foot. The side was 40 without loss in the sixth over when skipper Smith, struggling to discover touch, top-edged a pull to bowler Amir. The young left-armer generated impressive speed and probed the SouthAfrican captain with the yorker-short ball routine.
There was a significant momentum shift once Afridi was introduced. The runs dried up on a rather dry surface for South Africa. Pakistan had won a crucial toss. Afridi's leg-spinners whistled past the outside edge; on one occasion when Abraham de Villiers snicked, 'keeper Kamran Akmal grassed the edge.
The leg-spinner disguised his googly, and, with a similar action, got his deliveries to skid through straight. He varied his pace and length, cramped the batsmen for room.
Herschelle Gibbs was done in by one which fizzed through straight off the wicket. The fleet-footed de Villiers shaped for a cut and found the wrong 'un crashing into his stumps. This was aggressive spin bowling in Twenty20 cricket.

Gul seemed to have hurt his back when he put down a skier to reprieve Smith (on eight) off Abdul Razzaq but recovered well to whip up another match-winning spell. Younis Khan did not give Gul his full quota - left-arm spinner Alam conceded 15 runs in his only over - but the decision could have been due to the Pakistan skipper wanting to change Gul's end after a rather wayward opening over in which he struggled to control movement.
Crucially Kallis, around whom the innings revolved, could not pierce the gaps off either Afridi or Gul. South Africa was pegged back in the middle overs.Then, Gul bowled beautifully. He beat Kallis outside the off-stumpwith leg-cutters and then slipped in the yorker. And Gul's sharp pace forced the batsmen to hurry their strokes.Kallis and the left-handed Duminy - the two took the score from 50 for three in the ninth over to 111 in the 18th - put together a sizable partnership but their inability to launch into the bowling saw the asking rate climb.Pakistan celebrated in the end.


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