Tag: Semi Final

  • Babar Azam’s father hopeful for son’s comeback, prays for Pakistan’s win ahead of PAK vs NZ semi-final

    Babar Azam’s father hopeful for son’s comeback, prays for Pakistan’s win ahead of PAK vs NZ semi-final

    Azam Siddique, the father of Pakistan captain Babar Azam, has extended his best wishes and prayers to his son and Pakistan team ahead of their decisive T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final against New Zealand.

    Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by five wickets on Sunday to advance to the final four of the big tournament. However, defeating the Tigers would not have been enough to move the Men in Green to the next round, since they required either Zimbabwe to defeat India or the Netherlands to defeat South Africa.

    On Sunday, Fortune backed Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval. The Europeans defeated the Proteas by 13 runs, paving the way for the 2009 World T20 champions.

    Before the crucial encounter, the captain’s father took to his official Instagram account to wish the green shirts success.

    So far, the ongoing T20 World Cup has not gone well for Babar. The hitter has struggled to score big for his team, scoring only 39 runs in five Super 12 matches.

    However, with his name and track record, he cannot be counted off right away.

    On Wednesday, November 9, Pakistan will face the runners-up from last year at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

    Moreover, on Thursday, November 10, India will face England in the second semi-final of the major event at the Adelaide Oval.

  • Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon semifinal due to abdominal injury

    Rafael Nadal withdraws from Wimbledon semifinal due to abdominal injury

    For the eighth time in his illustrious career, Rafael Nadal defeated Taylor Fritz in a thrilling five-set match to reach the Wimbledon semifinals.

    After winning, the Spaniard will not be competing in the tournament. Before his semifinal matchup with Nick Kyrgios, Nadal has announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon, according to Stuart Fraser of The Times.

    As a result, Kyrgios may receive a victory by default, enabling the Australian to play in his first Grand Slam final.

    Nadal said at a press conference: “Unfortunately as you can imagine I am here because I have to pull out from the tournament.

    “As everyone saw yesterday I have been suffering with a pain in the abdominal and something was not OK there. That is confirmed, I have a tear in the muscle and the communication is too late.

    During the match against Fritz, Nadal was dealing with an abdominal injury. The 36-year-old said that although the discomfort he was feeling on Wednesday almost forced him to leave the game, the injury had first surfaced a week earlier.

    “For a lot of moments,” Nadal said, per ESPN, “I was thinking, ‘Maybe I will not be able to finish the match.”

    Nadal, innately, prevailed in the lengthy, five-set match, which took place over the course of more than four hours, and won 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-4). That guaranteed him the opportunity to face Kyrgios, though Nadal wasn’t certain he would be able to.

    On Thursday, Nadal underwent testing for the injury that grew worse over the course of his protracted struggle with Fritz. He later withdrew from the competition, so clearly they didn’t go well.

    For Nadal, dealing with injuries is nothing new. Due to a rare foot condition called Mueller-Weiss syndrome, which wears down the bones in the feet, he has previously had to miss events or be forced to retire. After suffering a foot injury that hindered him during his French Open victory, he wasn’t even sure if he would participate in Wimbledon.

    However, the abdominal problem is uncharted territory, and Nadal seems to have realised he couldn’t win another match while still experiencing its aftereffects.

    “It’s difficult,” Nadal said of playing through the injury. “Nothing can be fixed when you have a thing like this. That’s it.”

  • ‘I cried’: Hasan Ali on Matthew Wade’s drop catch in T20 WC

    ‘I cried’: Hasan Ali on Matthew Wade’s drop catch in T20 WC

    Pakistan’s right-arm fast bowler Hassan Ali has recently opened up about Matthew Wade’s drop catch in the T20 World Cup. The pacer said that he cried after dropping that catch.

    In an interview, Hassan revealed that he cried after that incident and so did Shaheen following the dropped catch.

    “After the match, I was crying and so was Shaheen, it was an extremely sad moment,” said Hassan.

    Hassan also revealed that he ‘wasn’t able to sleep for days’, terming it as the toughest phase of his career.

    “It was a tough moment of my career and it was quite difficult for me to forget. I haven’t revealed this to anyone until now but I didn’t sleep for two days, my wife was with me and she was tense as I was not sleeping,” he said.

    “Shoaib bhai came to me and told me that you are a tiger and that I shouldn’t fall. In addition to that, I also received a lot of support on social media which helped me ease through the pain,” he said.

    He went on to say that he was gutted following that costly dropped catch but he decided to move on while travelling to Bangladesh briefly after Pakistan’s exit from the mega event.

    “I was quiet and sitting at the side as the dropped catch was appearing in my mind continuously but while travelling to Bangladesh I told myself that I should move on,” he said.

    Hassan also added that the 27-year-old pacer does not take the matches lightly and always tries to perform for Pakistan.

    It is pertinent to mention here, following that dropped catch from Hassan, Wade smashed three consecutive sixes to Shaheen and powered his side to the victory which also booked a final berth for the Kangaroos.

  • Are you stupid? You are so bad’: Medvedev yells at referee in Australian Open semi-final

    Are you stupid? You are so bad’: Medvedev yells at referee in Australian Open semi-final

    Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev sealed his place in a second consecutive grand slam final by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 but not without drama after he lost his temper with Jaume Campistol and called him ‘stupid’ and a ‘bad’ umpire during the semi-final clash.

    Medvedev took a close first set in a tie-break but was then broken at 4-4 in the second to hand the Greek an opportunity to level the match at a set a piece.

    As both players headed to the changeover, Medvedev was warned for a “visible obscenity”, after which he started screaming up at umpire Campistol, complaining about Tsitsipas’ father and coach Apostolos talking to him about the match. (Coaching players during a match is banned in men’s tennis.)

    Campistol was unmoved, which enraged Medvedev further.

    “Are you mad? His father can’t talk every point. No, are you stupid? Can you answer my question please? Oh my God you are so bad,” Medvedev added.

    “How can you be so bad in the semi-final of a grand slam. Look at me! I’m talking to you,” he yelled.

    Campistol then called time, to which Medvedev shouted: “what time?”, and then watched as the Russian could not stop Tsitsipas serving out the set.

    “Next time, it should be a code violation. If you don’t [call it], what can I call [you]? A small cat?”

    The US Open champion took himself off court at the end of the set but as he left, once again implored Campistol to do something about what he felt was blatant coaching.

    Medvedev is shooting for back-to-back major titles after upsetting Djokovic in last year’s US Open final.

    Like in New York last September, when he stopped Djokovic from completing a calendar Grand Slam of titles, Medvedev will be trying to derail Nadal’s tilt at making men’s tennis history.

    Spanish star Nadal will be playing against world number two Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday.

  • ‘No one should point fingers, I back everyone’: Babar Azam talks to team after losing semi-final

    ‘No one should point fingers, I back everyone’: Babar Azam talks to team after losing semi-final

    Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam has given a pep-talk to the team in the dressing-room after they lost the semi-final to Australia in Dubai on Thursday. The young captain stressed it’s important to not point fingers at each other and that the entire team failed to play up to its potential in the heartbreaking loss on Thursday.

    Read More – Hayden lauds ‘warrior’ Rizwan, who was in hospital the night before Pak-Aus match

    Talking about unity in the team, Babar said: “Everybody is sad, everybody is feeling the pain. We need to figure out where we went wrong and where we have to improve. No one will tell us this, we all know this. But we have to learn from this.”

    “We have created a unit at the World Cup and this shouldn’t break. There should be no finger-pointing. We should not go into saying ‘he did this, he did this and all that’. We, as a team, did not play well. No one should point fingers at any other person.”

    “We lost, it’s okay but we have to learn from this. We will. In the times to come, we shouldn’t make the same mistakes,” added the captain.

    “I am telling you again, we shouldn’t let the unit break. We have worked hard to create this. One loss shouldn’t force anyone to leave this unit. As a captain, I am backing everyone. We have created a very good atmosphere in the dressing room, one that feels like family. Everyone has put in the effort. Every match, every player has taken up responsibility,” said Babar.

    “We will put in the effort, that is in our hands but the result is not. I know everyone is sad. But this will last for a short while. We will start thinking about where we went wrong and where we should have improved. Don’t get bogged down. Try lifting each other. Learn, there is a bit of sadness but we have to overcome that,” Babar concluded.

    Pakistan posted 176 runs for the loss of 4 wickets on the board in their quota of 20 overs, thanks to fifties from Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman. However, defending a total in Dubai proved difficult yet again as Pakistan paid the price for some ordinary effort with the ball and on the field.

    Australia will face New Zealand in the final of the T20 World Cup in Dubai on Sunday

  • Hayden lauds ‘warrior’ Rizwan, who was in hospital the night before Pak-Aus match

    Hayden lauds ‘warrior’ Rizwan, who was in hospital the night before Pak-Aus match

    Pakistan wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan played a sensational innings of 67 runs in a high-pressure semi-final against Australia in Dubai on Thursday.

    Ahead of the semi-final, Rizwan’s availability for the big game against Australia was in doubt due to illness.

    Thankfully for Pakistan, he was declared fit and made a massive impact after being put in to bat first by the opponents.

    After the innings, Matthew Hayden revealed just how special a performance it was from Rizwan.

    “Rizwan, you probably didn’t know was actually in hospital just a night ago suffering with some sort of lung condition. This is a warrior,” Hayden said.

    “He has been brilliant through it (the campaign) and he’s got great courage, as has Babar. Fantastic tonight from him.”

    Rizwan struggled initially to find his touch, but Babar Azam at the other end kept the scoreboard ticking. Soon, Rizwan got going after smacking Josh Hazlewood for a six in the fourth over.

    Once Babar was dismissed, he ensured that he batted as deep into the innings as possible, keeping one end tight till the 18th over. Thanks to some fiery shots by Fakhar Zaman in the end, Pakistan set a target of 177 for Australia to chase down.

    Playing in the first ICC semi-final of his career, Rizwan made his night even more memorable. En route his 67, he also became the first player in the history of the game to score 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year.

    He also broke the record England’s Jos Buttler had just set for the most runs by a keeper in a Men’s T20 World Cup. Buttler, who broke Craig Kieswetter’s record from 2010 in this year’s edition, had scored 269 runs to his name before England crashed out last night in the semi-final.

    Rizwan now has 281 and is only behind his fellow opener Babar Azam for most runs in this year’s T20 World Cup.

    Fellow cricketers and people from the cricket fraternity took to their social media to praise the 29-year-old cricketer.

    Meanwhile, Matthew Wade commended his batting partner Marcus Stoinis for the way he took on Haris Rauf in the 17th over and said that was indeed the turning point of the match. The slog overs also saw Hassan Ali dropping Wade off Shaheen Afridi in the 19th over, with the keeper-batter cracking the next three balls for sixes to seal their spot in the final.

  • Pakistan set to face Australia in semi-finals, Shaniera is clear who is she supporting

    Pakistan set to face Australia in semi-finals, Shaniera is clear who is she supporting

    The second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 will be played today at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Pakistan, the only unbeaten team in the tournament, will lock horns with Australia for a place in the summit clash.

    Read More – Shoaib Malik has ‘butterflies’ over facing Australia

    Pakistan’s bhabhi Shaniera Akram has said that she’d love Pakistan to win and nothing will make her happier but she’ll be happy too if Australia wins.

    Taking to Twitter she wrote: “My answer is I’d love PAK to win because nothing would make me happier than to see the cricket fanatic country I have grown to love go the distance. Lifting the #t20WorldCup would be a dream come true for Pakistan! But if Australia win, Of course I’d be really happy too #PAKvAUS.”

    She also said that whoever wins today, the match must be an entertainer.

    British High Commisioner Christian Turner, who said the England vs New Zealand match was a “rollercoaster”, also turned to his Twitter, wishing Pakistan luck for their semi-final match against Australia, saying: “I wait for my other team to go through – good luck Flag of Pakistan! Ab sab umeed Pakistan par hai!”

    He also congratulated the Black Caps for winning the first semi-final against England by five wickets and becomming the first team to reach in T20 World Cup’s finals this year.

    Babar Azam led team have been unstoppable in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 so far. They won all five of their Super 12 matches to finish at the top of the Group 2 points table. Meanwhile, Australia finished second in Group 1, recording four wins in five matches.

    Many fans will remember Australia and Pakistan battling in an ICC T20 World Cup semi-final match 11 years ago in the West Indies, where the Aussies emerged victorious. Pakistan will look forward to avenging that defeat today in Dubai.