Umar Akmal guides Pakistan To Victory With His Bat
Pakistan having lost their 1st super 10 match against arch rivals India was looking for their first win against Australia in Mirpur. The Australians after winning the toss put Pakistan into bat. The decision looked good as the Pakistan team started of slowly by losing their opener Shehzad in 2nd over of the match. In the 5th over the skipper also lost his wicket to Watson. Now it was on the two Akmal brothers who managed to stitch a partnership and saved the sinking ship of their team. Kamran Akmal scored 31 runs before getting out. Whereas the younger brother made sure that he placed it out and scored 94 runs missing on his century before giving away his wicket to the bowling of Starc. Pakistan ended their innings at the score of 191 which at one time looked a distant dream.
The Australian chase was a fight put up by the opener Finch and Maxwell. Apart from these two batsmen no one put up a fight and lost their wickets easily. Finch scored 65 off 54 deliveries while Maxwell took the attack to Pakistan bowlers with a ravishing 74 off just 33 balls. His efforts went in vain as no one put up a fight and hence Australia ended at 175 runs, thus giving Pakistan their first win of the tournament. Umar Akmal was named as the man of the match for his performance with the bat.