It was a spell, and the overall contest that brought the one-sided 2015 World Cup quarterfinal between hosts Australia and Pakistan to life. In a gripping passage of play, left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz went about "settling the score" with Shane Watson in the run-chase in Adelaide after being at the receiving end of the sledging from the Aussie all-rounder in the first half.
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For that half an hour, the world watched in awe how Wahab ran-in and troubled Watson with the kind of pace and hostility one associated with the great West Indies fast bowlers of the 80s. It was arguably Wahab's best spell at the highest level as he got his own back against Watson despite his team's loss and exit from the tournament.
"When he came into bat, I settled the score with him,” the 34-year-old was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. "When I was batting Watson just came up to me and said ‘are you holding a bat?’ and that was going through my mind."
"I let him know that even he had a bat, but he couldn’t touch the ball. I know that … he’s not good on the short ball, so it was a plan that we discussed in the team meeting."
Wahab almost dismissed Watson caught off a top-edge that went straight to the deep fine-leg fielder, but to everyone's disbelief and the pacer's dismay, Rahat Ali dropped a dolly, allowing Watson to continue. To his credit, the right-hander stayed not out with a half-century at the end.
“A bit of luck went my way to get through that spell,” Watson later conceded. “He was bowling good pace, but also the (left-arm) angle... it was hard to be able to try and get my head out of the way."
“It kept following me. We knew he was a danger man, he had his tail up and he bowled some nasty balls on the money… a lot of them."
Chasing a modest 214-run target, Australia eventually won by six wickets.
The team then defeated India and New Zealand in the semi-final and final, respectively, to be crowned ODI world champions for the record fifth time.
(Inputs from cricket.com.au)
