Two matches into the World Cup, Pakistan had no points and were as good as written off. They then took flak for taking 83 balls to chase 92 against the Netherlands. Then South Africa had them at 43-4.

Yet, they turned things around – though not without external help. They reached 185-9 against South Africa to win by 33 runs and Netherlands stunned the Proteas. That cleared the path for them to beat Bangladesh comfortably to reach the semi-final. Once there, they beat New Zealand – who had lost just once in the tournament – with just as much ease to book a seat for the final.

There is little doubt that Pakistan played superior cricket, but they won the tactical battles as well.

Taking the pace off

With a 1,000-run cut-off, Finn Allen has the highest strike rate in all of T20 cricket. His onslaught had set up the New Zealand innings against Australia at the same venue. Today, it took Shaheen Shah Afridi three balls to remove him. The first two overs passed without further fuss – though Devon Conway played one ball from Naseem Shah too early.

Shaheen returned for the third over. The first ball was over-pitched, on off-stump, the kind of ball Kane Williamson sends for four with regularity. Instead, it seemed to stop on Williamson: he still got three, but the shot went in the air. As more of these followed, the Pakistani fast bowlers – all of whom are capable of clocking 140 kph/87 mph – kept varying their pace.

Nothing exemplified this more than the sixth over, when Haris Rauf racked up serious pace. He began at 150 kph, and Conway responded with a lofted drive over cover. He got a run, and Haris dropped to 130 kph against Williamson. When they found a single, Haris bounced another at 150 kph.

New Zealand were already adjusting to the pace of the pitch. Pakistan added to their woes by varying the pace. Their miseries were compounded when Shadab Khan ran out Conway with a brilliant direct hit.

By the death overs, the Pakistan fast bowlers found reverse swing, and added the fast yorker into the mix. It is easier thought than done, but they mixed fast reverse swinging balls with slower balls beautifully at the death.

Perhaps the best moment came in the last over, when Neesham played a yorker and expected another, only to realise that Naseem had bowled a delightful slower ball bouncer. Naseem rounded off the innings with slow, fast yorker, slow, fast yorker – an amazing amalgamation of strategy and skill.

Not floating a left-hander

A little over two weeks ago, India were in complete disarray against Pakistan. They were 30-3 after the powerplay. Yet, they promoted Axar Patel, their lone left-hander, for they knew that Pakistan were very likely to introduce Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz immediately after the powerplay, and both men turn the ball into the left-hander.

India got that right, but Axar was controversially run out immediately afterwards.

New Zealand did not think on these lines. They had not one but two left-handers, in Neesham and Mitchell Santner. On a slow pitch, Pakistan were almost certain to use Shadab and Nawaz immediately after the powerplay.

Even if they wanted to preserve Neesham (strike rate 188 in death overs in 2022) for the end, Santner (61 runs in 34 balls against spin in 2022) was an option. He was also ‘expendable’, for there was always backup in case he failed. New Zealand would not have lost out on anything had he failed.

Instead, Glenn Phillips walked out, and perished when he played one too quickly. Between overs seven and ten, New Zealand scored 21 runs.

Halfway through their innings, their run rate was under six. They had as good as lost the match there.

Williamson’s innings

In a side where the tail begins at seven, there is little doubt that Williamson backs himself to bat deep into the innings. Perhaps there is merit in that approach, especially after losing three wickets inside eight overs.

Unfortunately, minimising risks often results in slow scoring, and today, Williamson ended up being too slow. Despite coming to bat in the first over, he did not hit a single boundary in the first 12 overs, and was on 28 from 28 balls.

He then found a six and a four, but in between, he played seven balls, and failed to score off four of them. He eventually made 46 in 42 balls (a strike rate of 110). It was not the easiest of pitches, but the other three batters who faced 35 or more balls in the match all scored at over 126.

It was perhaps a case of taking caution too far. Against Australia, Allen and Neesham’s onslaughts and Conway’s 58-ball 92 not out covered for his run-a-ball 23. Against England, he faced a third of the innings while striking at a run a ball, leaving the others to score 140 in 80 balls – and New Zealand fell short.

Not for the first time in the World Cup did Williamson – a champion of the longer formats – delay the onslaught for far too late in the innings.

In contrast, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, both of whom had been criticised for simile approaches of late, took on the bowlers from the onset.

Sticking to the basics

Babar and Rizwan had taken flak for batting too deep into the innings. Neither batter had got a great run in this World Cup, while Mohammad Haris had impressed with his hitting inside the powerplay. There was, thus, temptation to break up the much-vaunted duo.

It is difficult to tell what Pakistan would have done had they batted first or had to chase around 200. Together, Babar and Rizwan bat at only 7.8 an over but the asking rate here was a mere 7.65, inside their comfort zone. In fact, the situation demanded that Babar and Rizwan batted like the quintessential Babar and Rizwan, batting deep, bringing that 7.65 bit by bit.

They notched up their eighth century stand at the top of the order, four more than any other pair. When Babar fell, Pakistan needed 6.68 runs per over. When Rizwan fell, seven an over, with eight men standing. They won the match being Babar and Rizwan.

The spinners

New Zealand rightly went for the wickets early on, but they did not fall back onto their spinners even when it became evident that the fast bowlers were not getting any purchase and Babar and Rizwan were comfortable even while hitting across the line.

By the time the spinners came on, after the powerplay, Pakistan needed a mere 98 in 14 overs with all their wickets in hand. They did not take risks on that slow pitch, used the sweep to great extent – this was more akin to the familiar subcontinent surface – and could afford to take only 52 off the eight overs of spin.

Pakistan would probably have won anyway after they restricted New Zealand to 152-4. But New Zealand did not even push them.

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