Australia wicketkeeper Matthew Wade revealed on Thursday that he wasn’t sure whether the team would get over the line in the final stages of the T20 World Cup semifinal against Pakistan but fortunately, had the level-headed Marcus Stoinis at the other end who showed him the way out during their thrilling 5-wicket win in Dubai.
Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis played the knocks of their lives to help the Aussies gun down 177 in 19 overs to end Pakistan’s 5-match winning run and hand the Men in Green their first defeat in a T20I in the United Arab Emirates after 16 games.
Wade and Stoinis’s unbroken 81-run partnership for the sixth wicket stunned Pakistan as Australia reached the final of the T20 World Cup for the second time after 2010. Australia will now take on first-time finalists New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday (November 14).
Wade, who was dropped on 21 by Hassan Ali off Shaheen Afridi’s bowling in the penultimate over, made Pakistan pay the ultimate price by smashing three sixes off the next three balls to finish the match in style for the Aussies.
“Talking to Marcus Stoinis at the other end, we discussed what the bowlers were looking to do. (Shaheen) probably bowled more pace-on than I expected. When I got out there with Marcus, he was really confident we’d get them, even though I was a little unsure.
