Related Links : ICC Champions Trophy 2006 : Scorecard
New Zealand became the first team to book a berth in the semis of the Champions Trophy after a professional 51-run victory over Pakistan at Mohali today. It was once again Captain cool Stephen Fleming leading from the front with 80 to his name that had enabled the Kiwis to put up a huge total after they were put into bat first. A target of 275 it was for Pakistan and a shaky start didn’t help them in reaching anywhere near that figure. The Black Caps had kept their cool despite a big fifth wicket partnership between Yousuf and Malik along with the dew that hit the outfield big time.
Both sides were a lot worried about the dew factor and both Captains would have fielded first after winning the toss. It was Younis Khan who was the lucky man and without any hesitation he put the Kiwis in. While Pakistan remained unchanged with their side, New Zealand made a couple of changes with Peter Fulton and James Franklin coming in for Hamish Marshall and Jeetan Patel. A bad start was what the Kiwis were off to with Lou Vincent playing an atrocious shot across the line off Umar Gul to present the first blood for Pak. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan got NZ two down as he induced Nathan Astle in playing a reckless drive into the slips. Fulton the new man in, hung in there along with his skipper Fleming but just for a while before he was consumed by Iftikhar’s inswinger.
The Kiwis so badly needed a partnership to repair their innings which was now in tatters at 60 for 3. It was Scott Styris who finally turned out to be the able partner for his skipper and there was absolutely no stopping as the two stroke makers got the innings into a decent shape. The fourth wicket partnership raised 108 runs before Stephen Fleming chipped a simple return catch to Malik in the 38th over. Stephen Fleming scored 80 which had come in 105 balls with the help of 8 fours and a six which unfortunately hit a spectator right on his forehead! Like Fleming, Styris was also unlucky to miss out on a century as his big hit off Umar Gul failed to clear Iftikhar at long off. Styris was struggling with his back in the later part of his innings which had forced him to bat with a runner in form of Lou Vincent. Styris fell at a personal score of 86 which had come in 113 balls with 10 boundaries.
New Zealand finished their innings in grand style through some fireworks from Jacob Oram to begin with and then Brendon McCullum who were instrumental in taking their side to 274 for 7. Oram made a quick fire 31 from 26 which also had a six while Brendon McCullum eased his way to a 13-ball 27 with 3 fours and a six. Pakistan’s fielding was terrible, often school boys’ stuff that allowed so many free runs to the opposition. The bowling wasn’t that good giving away length deliveries and too many short deliveries with plenty of room for the batsmen to play the big shots in the last few overs.
The pitch was expected to assist some lateral movement for the first 10 overs of the innings under lights, so it wasn’t that easy for Pakistan to get going. Imran Farhat as usual fell playing a rash shot, slashing Shane Bond’s harmless half tracker to the thirdman fielder. But the real big one for the Kiwis was the wicket of Captain Younis Khan’s who didn’t bother to keep his cut shot down the ground off Kyle Mills to be taken at point. Mohammad Hafeez who looked good in his brief essay was also gone trying to play a forcing shot to a rising delivery from Oram. Hafeez had played well though scoring 43 from 46 which helped in keeping a check on the required run rate. Shahid Afridi was bounced out by Jacob Oram as the former top edged his hook shot to Bond who was standing in the 15 yards circle at short fine leg. It was 83 for 4 in the 17th over and it looked like a difficult task for Pak to get the remaining runs.
Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik batted sensibly well for their team and in due course got their side back in reckoning. Their partnership was also strengthened with the dew that settled down to beat the APSA-80 chemical that was sprayed before the match. The Kiwis were a concerned lot as both batsmen didn’t look like getting out unless they played a bad shot. It was a bad shot played by Mohammad Yousuf that had got NZ back in the hunt. Yousuf looking to play a square drive couldn’t control his bat handle well enough to slash Shane Bond straight to mid off. Yousuf’s knock was cut short to 71 which had taken him 92 balls and had 9 boundaries including few sweet off drives.
If there was one thing that was slightly going out of Pak’s favour was the runs required from the balls remaining which now became 83 from the final 10 overs! Although Pakistan had clean hitters right till Rao Iftikhar it wasn’t that realistic under pressure. And pressure had got better of the Pakistani batsmen who threw their wickets in desperation as they couldn’t cope up with the enormous challenge in their hands. Razzaq was caught at long on playing a cross-batted shot off Bond and following him back in the pavilion soon was Shoaib Malik. Daniel Vettori with the last ball of his 10 overs quota had deceived Malik in the air to beat the right hander’s intentions of hitting him out of the park. Shoaib Malik scored 52 from 70 balls with four boundaries. The innings and the match came to an end in the 47th over with Kamra Akmal dragging his lofted shot off Mills to Fleming at short mid wicket. Shane Bond who didn’t bowl as quick as he could took three wickets for 45 in his 10. Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram took a couple of wickets. It was Stephen Fleming, leading the Kiwis for a world-record 194th time who got the Man of the Match award. Sri Lanka have now been eliminated out of the tournament following this NZ win.