ICC WT20:New Zealand in semis with a big win

Batting first New Zealand impressive 180-5 in their allotted 20 over.Guptill made mockery of pakistani bowlers by making 80 runs in just 48 balls which included 3 massive 6s and ten hits to boundary,Ross taylor also made impressive 36 of 23 balls which included two 4s & one towering six & Corey Anderson also made contribution of 21 runs


When pakistan's innings started it bit different due to Mohali's overwhelming attendance and Pakistan's intact spine in a chase. 180 might have been reckoned enough, and it proved to be, but this chase did threaten. Pakistan, for a change, turned up with the bat but alas in baby installments. The first one was Sharjeel's 25-ball typhoon housing 9 fours and a six. And ounces of intent so often seen missing. A grassy pitch, while replaying for all of Eden Gardens' woes did usher a second installment - Afridi assaulted but fizzled out all too quickly to an economical Sodhi. Sharjeel's wicket dried the runs up and Pakistan found themselves back to square one - needing the run rate that was initially the prerequisite. Santner quashed the pitch tonight to figures of 2/29 while Milne bulldozed to a back-breaking wicket-tally of two. An erratic Pakistan, on a good-ish day, too has failed to stop this Kiwi motorcade and New Zealand now find themselves snug in that semifinal spot. What form. What optimism.
Guptill was adjudged Man of the Match.Afridi in post match ceremony said "First I want to congratulate NZ. One point it looked like they might touch 200 but our bowlers pulled it back. It looked like a chaseable total. We didn't play well after first six overs. Played a lot of dot balls. Shehzad and Sharjeel started well but we couldn't play well against the spinners. We keep repeating mistakes and in this format you can't do that. It might be the last game of my career against Australia. Let's see how things go." whereas Kane williamson said "It was a very good surface and off the back of Guptill's superior knocks, the batters played their roles nicely to get a very good score. And then the bowlers kept their composure after a tough start to pull it back. 180 we felt was above par. It's a good score on any ground. We knew the first six overs will be key and they played very well in that phase but credit to the bowlers to pull it back. The way the guys adjusted on a different surface again was very good. Every game has been tough and again today we were put under a lot of pressure by Pakistan. They're a good bunch of lads [talking about his team] which is important. T20 cricket is very fickle in it's nature. Hopefully we can continue to do so. Our strength is to adapt on varying conditions. Still a lot of tough cricket to come."