When Shaheen Shah Afridi turned around to take the second run, he already saw Sikander Raza pick up the ball. He was running a race with the ball and also Pakistan’s chances of elimination from the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. It was at this time, his knee, which was injured a few months back, gave up and he could only see the ball beating him to Regis Chakabva’s gloves. Chakabva, after juggling with the ball for a few seconds, finally took the bails off. It was like adding salt to injury as Shaheen was still on his way to the security of the crease, hobbling. The crowd in the Perth Stadium was in absolute silence, Pakistan was as good as eliminated from the T20 World Cup 2022, no way they were coming back from this ruin they pushed themselves into. ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Semifinals Schedule, Who Plays Who? Match Timings in IST, Venues and Teams for Semis 1 and 2.

Ten days later, Pakistan was in the semifinal, and they made the most miraculous turnaround possible. How? We will know.

Pakistan played some solid competitive cricket against India in the first game. After the initial blow of quick wickets, Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed counterattacked followed by an inspired bowling performance. Despite playing that good, Virat Kohli’s excellence and the eventful last over dented their confidence. The first thing they realised was they are one fast bowler short in these pacer friendly pitches and brought in Mohammad Wasim Junior. His inclusion made a good bowling attack better but the batting kept underperforming and led to the shock defeat against Zimbabwe. The competition in the group was so high that qualification from that situation didn’t look realistic. Whole Pakistan was in despair and there was massive criticism around the captain and the selectors.

It was at this point the turnaround started from a back against the wall situation. Pakistan think tank knew they need more aggression and intent in their middle order and included Fakhar Zaman in the playing xi. A clinical win against Netherlands restored their confidence as they moved into the most important game against South Africa. Mohammad Haris, another batter with positive intent, replaced injured Fakhar in the XI and lit up the stage. His early cameo followed by a big partnership of Iftikhar Ahmed and Shadab Khan helped Pakistan to get to a big total and shifted the momentum towards them. Riding on the momentum, bowlers sealed the win for Pakistan in the rain interrupted game. Still, Pakistan needed some favour from Netherlands or Zimbabwe to have their fortune in their hand. PAK in Semis! Fans Share Funny Memes As Pakistan Qualifies for Semi Final of T20 World Cup 2022, See Twitter Reactions.

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Pakistan got the piece of fortune they needed. Netherlands played their best game in the whole tournament and defeated South Africa crashing them out of the tournament. This meant Pakistan had to only win their game against Bangladesh. The bowling stepped up again, wrapping Bangladesh to a low score but the underconfident openers led Pakistan to another shaky start. However, once again, Mohammad Haris and his positive approach took Pakistan over the finishing line and made the impossible possible. Pakistan qualified for the semifinals from the verge of elimination, absolute despair turning to absolute joy. Fortune favours the brave, and this time in the Super-12 stage of the T20 World Cup 2022, Pakistan was really brave.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 07, 2022 08:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).