Picture Credit: Twitter
Pakistan suffered a heartbreaking exit from the T20 World Cup after suffering a five-wicket defeat in the semifinal against Australia on Thursday. The loss hurt Pakistan fans even more since they had been unbeaten in the competition and were favourites to go through to the finals on Sunday. However, that wasn't to be as despite the Men in Green dominating much of the game, Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis helped Australia cross the finish line.
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, one of the experts who had backed Pakistan to win the tournament, reacted after the result by uploading a YouTube video for his channel. He was visibly disappointed but also congratulated Team Australia for their win, praising the efforts of Wade and Stoinis.
He said: "Meri shakal utar gayi hai" as he struggled to describe what had just happened to Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium.
"Oh man, it's not good, it's not good at all. I don't know, I don't know what to make out of this. Pakistan should have scored about 20-odd runs more. They played slowly in the middle," he added.
"The whole nation's heart is broken. But never mind you have done well, you have played well, Pakistan it's okay. There is a lot to learn from you guys. There is a lot to learn from this match," he further said.
While Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman had propelled Pakistan to a competitive score of 176/4 in their 20 overs, Australia chased it down with one over to spare despite being in a spot of bother at one point. Wade struck three successive sixes to finish off the match in the penultimate over after he was dropped by Hassan Ali in a huge moment in the match.
Australia and New Zealand will now play the final on November 14 in Dubai. Both teams have played some great cricket to reach the titular clash and it promises to be a close fight for the T20 World Cup as there will be a new winner this year.