The South African pacers excelled with their bowling in the T20 World Cup decider against India in Perth on Sunday. After the openers struggled to negate the early pressure from the fast bowlers, Lungi Ngidi made the first breakthrough in the fourth over and the Men in Blue soon lost another 24 for just 26 runs. India’s struggle against South Africa has left Pakistan legend Shoaib Akhtar frustrated as the Babar Azam-led side will hope Rohit Sharma’s men have a chance to reach the semi-finals. (India vs South Africa Live Score, T20 World Cup 2022)
Pakistan got two results on Sunday – beating Zimbabwe in a thriller before Bangladesh opened the scoring with a win against the Netherlands. The two results subsequently boosted Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals after a poor start to the tournament with defeats against India and Zimbabwe.
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However, India’s struggles against Zimbabwe worried Akhtar and he took to Twitter to share a video: “Meng Kaha Taki India must win for Pakistan. Pakistan ko marvna nehi hai. Yes Pakistan ko marwa raha hai. Char out karwadiye. Pata nehi aagei kya hoga (I said India should win but they are killing Pakistan’s chances here. We don’t need that. 4 wickets down, don’t know what else will happen).
He captioned the video, “Bhaiyo bahut jaldi main hain?” wrote.
Ngidi was the pick of the bowlers as he dispatched the top three, including Virat Kohli, who covered the batter before finishing the match with 4 for 29. Wayne Parnell picked up three more but Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant knock of 68 runs helped India reach 133 for nine.
“I think against a team like India, you have to let them down, the early wickets were crucial for us. The altitude worked in our favour, some were a bit bouncy, always expected in Perth and I was. Very happy with our length,” Ngidi said after India’s innings.