Shoaib Akhtar thanked the South Africa team and called them ‘big chokers’ after they were defeated by the Netherlands in their final group 2 match in T20 World Cup 2022, enabling Pakistan with an opportunity to get into the semi-finals.
Pakistan, who suffered a shock loss to Zimbabwe, headed into their final Super 12 match against Bangladesh with very little hope of making the semi-finals. They needed the Netherlands to perform a miracle against South Africa or Zimbabwe stun India to keep their hopes alive.
And the Netherlands obliged them by defeating South Africa by 13 runs after posting 158/4 in 20 overs with Colin Ackermann top-scoring with 41 runs and Stephen Myburgh making 37 runs. In reply, Temba Bavuma and his batters crumbled under pressure as Rilee Rossouw made 25, Heinrich Klaassen made 21, and Bavuma himself made 20 runs.
Brandon Glover (3/9) and Bas de Leede (2/25) were the main destroyers as Proteas lost to the Netherlands.
Now all Pakistan had to do was beat Bangladesh and they did so by 5 wickets to progress to the semi-finals. Shaheen Afridi’s 4/24 kept Bangladesh to 127/8 despite Najmul Hasan Shanto’s half-century. Then despite some nervy moments, Mohammad Haris’ quick 31 and Shan Masood’s 24* took Pakistan past the finishing line with 11 balls to spare.
Shoaib Akhtar was very pleased with the result of the Netherlands-South Africa match and thanked the Proteas for choking and losing their crunch match.
"I just woke up. Thank you, South Africa. You guys are big chokers because you gave Pakistan another chance. It was a big favour. All Pakistan needs to do is just go out there and win this game. I didn’t think Pakistan deserved this chance after losing to Zimbabwe but Pakistan got a lifeline, a lottery. I think Bangladesh are great people but we need this World Cup, we need to see India once all over again," Akhtar said in a video posted on Twitter.
Babar Azam became the first Pakistani captain to lead the side into the semi-finals in successive T20 World Cups.
