The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship has been whittled down from 12 teams to just four, and by 10pm on Saturday evening, it will be known which two teams will battle it out in the final at the Wanderers on Monday.
The first semifinal, at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon, pits Pakistan against New Zealand. The enigmatic Pakistanis finished at the top of their group, having won all three of their second-round matches against Sri Lanka, Australia and Bangladesh.
New Zealand lost to South Africa, but went through to the semifinals by virtue of a better run rate after South Africa imploded in their match against India on Thursday night.
Pakistan are notoriously erratic and can either be brilliant or dire, but seem to be doing well under their new coach, Australian Geoff Lawson. They have several players, such as Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Umar Gul, who are capable of taking the game away from the other side.
New Zealand have been impressive throughout the tournament, and it took a brilliant 89 not out from Justin Kemp for South Africa to beat them in the only second-round match that they lost. Daniel Vettori appears to have taken to the captaincy with relish, and they are also keen to shed the tag of ”dark horse” that follows them into every tournament.
The second semifinal, between Australia and India, should be a cracker.
India were brilliant in their victory over England earlier in the week, assisted by a dazzling innings from Yuvraj Singh, who scored 50 off 12 balls and hit six sixes off one over. They were also ruthless in their destruction of South Africa on Thursday night.
Yuvraj Singh, who missed the match against South Africa because of tendonitis in his elbow, is expected to be fit for Saturday’s match, and Indian bowler Irfan Pathan said on Friday the team were ready to take on Australia. ”We are batting well, bowling well and fielding well,” he said. ”The team is gelling under our new captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and we fear no one.”
Australia, pre-tournament favourites, suffered two shock defeats, first losing to Zimbabwe in the first round and then to Pakistan in the second, but coach Tim Nielsen believes the team are peaking at the right time.
”Losing to Zimbabwe gave us a bit of a shot in the arm,” he said. ”We feel as though we’re getting better every day. It’s great that we’ve been able to find our way to this stage of the tournament, and we’ll hit the semi tomorrow night in as good a shape as we can be. We know that tomorrow we’ve got to be switched on right from the first ball.”
Nielsen said one of Australia’s strengths is that they have the ability to win at the right time. ”We just need to be sure we control the game,” he said.
The first semifinal starts at 2pm and the second at 6pm. — Sapa