It's advantage PAKISTAN

              So, here’s the big occasion. Pakistan will take on South Africa in the first semifinal of this T20 world cup. A few would have expected Pakistan to be here. But remember, they are the most unpredictable side of world cricket and no one had expected them to play in the Jo’berg final either. But this is it, they are right here to lock horns with South Africans.

               South Africa had entered in this competition with a favorite tag labeled on them and till now, they have lived onto expectations. They are the most balanced side in this tournament. Their batting has been good, their bowling has been brilliant and their fielding has been awesome. Given a cricket match against Pakistan, they are expected to win it. But this is not just a cricket match. This is a world cup semifinal and South Africa had a history of loosing big matches. Be it world cup semifinals against Australia in 1999 and 2007 or champions trophy semifinal against West Indies in 2006, they had ruined their chances everytime. Even in the last T20 world cup, they needed just 126 from 20 overs to reach to the semifinal but they didn’t even get that. So the fact that they had not been able to reach to the final of any world championship will haunt them the most in this match.

                If we look into Pakistan’s prospects, bowling is their main strength. They have some of the best bowlers of T20 in their ranks in the form of Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi. And if South Africa tend to be overcautious against them, they have bowlers like Mohammad Aamer and Sayeed Ajmal who can take advantage of that. Sayeed Ajmal has bowled some very fine spells in this tournament while being unnoticed whereas Mohammad Aamer has all the capabilities to do so.  The inclusion of Abdul Razzak has added some more variety to their attack. The form of their batsmen is a concern for Pakistan but there is one thing from which they can sense some relief. The bowling of South Africa in this tournament is surprisingly based on spin with likes of Merve and Botha doing most of the damage to the opposition. But Pakistan are one of the best sides to play spin bowling and with batsmen like Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Misbah Ul Haq and a in form shahid Afridi in their middle order, they have little to worry about spin. So all Pakistani batsmen have to do is to see off the initial threat of Steyn and Parnell.

              The best thing that Pakistan has in this tournament is that they are playing for the pride of their country. Pakistan is virtually on exile in cricketing terms for the past couple of years. Due to the lack of international cricket, the popularity of cricket in Pakistan is dying. This Pakistan side are on a mission to prove this to the whole world that the political situation in Pakistan man not be that good, the terrorism may have taken the whole country in it’s grasp but when it comes to cricket, they are still one of the best sides of world cricket. So if Pakistan comes out as victorious today, no one should be surprised.