Australia emphatically beat Pakistan by six wickets to book their place in the cricket World Cup semi-finals against India.
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It could have all been so different for Pakistan who need a perfect performance after their batsmen were bowled all out for 213 but were let down by two dropped catches from Shane Watson and Glenn Maxwell hits.
It began with Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed was only batting for 19 minutes before he misjudged a Starc delivery and Watson claimed Pakistan’s first wicket with an excellent catch, low to his right.
And he was quickly followed by Ahmed Shehzad, Pakistan were already wobbling on just 24-2.
Miraculously for Pakistan, their blushes were spared when Josh Halewood’s delivery brushed the left stump but failed to take the bails off.
Maxwell claimed his second wicket of the match with this misguided shot, easily caught by Aaron Finch and leaving Pakistan reeling on 124-5.
They’d been at each other all match but Mitchell Starc had the last laugh over Wahab Riaz who was caught from behind.
And it was Starc who got the decisive and final wicket for Australia with this diving catch meaning the Aussies needed just 214 to win.
A brave start for the underdogs might have got a few in Adelaide nervous with Aaron Finch being trapped LBW after just 12 minutes action.
It took a while to get their second but Pakistan showed they weren’t prepared to back down, David Warner gone after a terrible shot to make it 49-2.
How Pakistan might look on this with despair, Australia were looking shaky on 83-3 and they dropped this catch from deep.
It was shots like these from Glen Maxwell which eventually saw Australia take command of the tie.
And a six wicket victory was confirmed with this boundary from Glenn Maxwell.
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