A resurgent Pakistan will lock horns with the clinical New Zealand in a mouth-watering first semifinal of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Wednesday, and pacer great Shoaib Akhtar shared a special message for the Babar Azam-led side.
Pakistan lost their first two matches of the T20 World Cup against India and Zimbabwe and were on the verge of getting knocked out. However, they performed when it mattered, got a lifeline and now have a golden opportunity to go all the way in the tournament.
On the other hand, New Zealand began their campaign in style by thrashing the hosts Australia and eventually won four out of five Super 12 matches. They just lost to England in a high-quality contest but otherwise have been quite clinical in their efforts so far.
The former speedster took to social media to encourage the Pakistan team ahead of the knock-out clash.
"Go for it boys. Fight hard & dont let the opposition control. Laga do phainta," Akhtar tweeted.
Pakistan have two consolidating openers in Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, who have struggled for runs in the tournament but if there's one occasion where their team would expect one of the most consistent T20I batters to step up, it is a knockout game.
Rizwan, who is right behind Suryakumar Yadav for the leading run-scorer of 2022 in T20I, knows the Black Caps' attack pretty well having recently played against them, and the sluggish nature of the SCG wicket would suit his style of batting too.
The rest of the batting order has a healthy mix of bashers and floaters and enough left and right-handed options.
The x-factor
The 24-year-old Shadab Khan has been the x-factor in the Pakistan line-up and he might be used as a floater in the batting line-up to counter the spin duo of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner.
With the SCG likely to aid some turn and New Zealand's top five having just one left-hander, Shadab's role would also be pretty crucial in the bowling as well. Rest of the Pakistan bowling line-up has world-class pace attack that has been dominating in this T20 World Cup.
