Pakistan humble Australia, storm into semis

Johannesburg:

Chasing 165, Pakistan humbled the world champions Australia by 6 wickets in their Super Eights match to storm into the semi-finals of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup at Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Earlier, Australia was restricted to 164 for seven after being put in to bat by Pakistan skipper Shohaib Malik.

Misbah was adjudged the Man of the Match for his outstanding innings of 66 (7X4, 1X6) which came off just 42 balls.

Shohaib Malik (52) and Misbah-ul-Haq (66) put up an unbeaten partnership of 119 off only 75 deliveries to take Pakistan to victory.

Earlier, the batting order had nearly collapsed when Stuart Clark struck twice in the third over and got both openers, Mohammad Hafeez (15) and Imran Nazir (10) caught by Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson respectively.

Younis Khan was the next man out by Clark as he was caught by Brett Lee for 4 runs.
Johnson then trapped Salman Butt leg before after he added a mere 11 runs to the Pakistan total.

Australia stumped at 164

Much was expected by the Aussie openers but both fell in quick succession. Matthew Hayden was taken out by Sohail Tanvir on the third ball of the second over as he got him caught by Younis Khan for a mere one run.

His second over saw the dismissal of Adam Gilchrist on 24 when he was caught by Mohammad Hafeez.

Andrew Symonds who had stabilized the innings with his of 29 off 18 balls was bowled by Shahid Afridi in the eighth over. Skipper Ricky Ponting then returned back to the 'dug-out' as he was dismissed by Hafeez for 27.

Brad Hodge and Mike Hussey sustained the innings with their 50-run partnership coming off just 24 balls with both contributing with 24 and 26 respectively.
Tanvir struck in his last over again as he got Hussey caught by Imran Nazir for 37. Michael Clarke (0) was then run out by a direct hit by Shahid Afridi.

The last wicket of the Aussie innings was Brad Hodge (36) as Younis Khan caught him off a Mohammad Asif delivery.

Both teams had retained the unchanged XIs from their previous games.

Teams:

Australia : Adam Gilchrist (wk), Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting (capt), Andrew Symonds, Brad Hodge, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Stuart Clark, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Mitchell Johnson.

Pakistan : Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik (capt), Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir.