Match 41 in the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was one of the most inconsequential matches in the Super 12 round. Pakistan, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, took on Scotland, who had lost all of their four matches. As expected, Pakistan won the match with ease, defeating Scotland by a whopping 72 runs, ending the Super 12 round as the only unbeaten team in the tournament.
To challenge themselves, Pakistan, after winning the toss, chose to bat first. They got off to a very sedate start, ending the powerplay with the score of 35, without losing any wicket. 14 of the 35 runs came from Brad Wheal’s one over.
Azam continued his domination
Rizwan, the leading run-scorer in T20Is this year, had a rare failure, getting caught behind for a 19-ball 15. Fakhar Zaman came in at the fall of Rizwan’s wicket but struggled to get going, falling for a painful eight runs off 13 balls. At the halfway stage, Pakistan were nudging around at just 6.0 RPO, finishing with 60-2.
In the second half of Pakistan’s innings, they changed their gears drastically. Azam was again at the forefront of it, scoring his third consecutive half-century and fourth in this tournament. He eventually got out for 66 off 47 balls, scoring at 140.42 with three Sixes. Azam, who is fluent on the offside and loves his cover drives, was severe on anything bowled on the stumps as 71.2% of his runs (47 runs) came on the leg side.
Azam’s partnership with Mohammad Hafeez was the most important one in Pakistan’s innings, as the pair put on 53 runs for the third wicket off just 32 balls. Hafeez, who demolished the Namibian attack in the last game, continued from where he left. He finished with 31 runs off 19 balls, hitting four Fours and a Six at a strike rate of 163.15. The veteran was instrumental in providing a perfect platform for Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali to launch the attack in the final overs.
Shoaib Malik turned back the clock
After a rapid third-wicket partnership with Hafeez, Azam combined with Malik to put on a 30-run partnership for the fourth wicket off just 15 balls. When Azam finally ran out of gas and got out in the 18th over, Pakistan had put up 142 runs on the board and would have looked at reaching the 165-run mark. What followed next was absolute carnage.
Malik, who came in to face the last five overs of the match, ended with 54 not out off 18 balls and scored Pakistan’s fastest fifty in T20Is. Malik also scored the joint-fastest fifty of this tournament. Kyle Coetzer, the Scotland captain, had a brain-fade moment, giving the last over to leg spinner Chris Greaves. Malik pounced on him, scoring 22 runs off Greaves’ last four legitimate balls.
Malik targeted his favored leg side, scoring 46 runs (a whopping 85.19%) of his runs in the area between square leg and long-on. For his game-changing innings, Malik was awarded the Player of the Match award.
Scotland failed to provide a fight
With a mammoth target of 190 runs in front of them, Scotland never got going, crawling their way to end the Powerplay on 24-1. Such was the effectiveness of Pakistan bowlers mixed with the inexperience in batting, Scotland finally crossed the 100-run mark in the 18th over.
Richie Berrington was the only Scottish batter to put on a show, scoring an unbeaten 54 off 37 balls. Despite the dew factor, Shadab Khan was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers. In conditions where gripping the ball was a big task, the leg spinner picked up two wickets and gave away just 14 runs in his four overs, bowling 14 dot balls. Scotland played along for the entire 20 overs, scoring just 117 runs.
Pakistan, after winning all their games, go into the semi-finals as one of the favorites to win the T20 World Cup. For Scotland, this tournament would have helped them gain some invaluable experience, and they would want to build on this and come back stronger to fight against the big boys of cricket.