New Zealand vs Pakistan, 1st Semi-Final at Sydney, T20 WC, Nov 09 2022 - Match Result

10.50pm Pakistan have qualified for the final from outtta nowhere. Heartbreak for NZ once again. That's all she wrote for today. Until next time, this is Deivarayan Muthu signing off on the behalf of Alan Gardner, Thilak Ram and Chandan Duorah. Take care and cheers.

Williamson: I thought Pakistan played nicely and then we managed to wrestle back some momentum. At the halfway mark we thought we had a competitive total but disappointing not to make Pakistan work harder [in the chase]. A tough pill for us to swallow, we certainly pride ourselves in a number of areas, strengths of ours, and didn't quite do that today. Fielding was okay...but I think if we want to be honest, we wanted to be more disciplined with our areas. Like I said, Pakistan deserved to win. Throughout the round-robin stages, we played nicely and today we weren't at our best. Having said that, we know the fickle nature of T20 cricket.

Babar: The way the team performed in the last three matches.... Thanks to the crowd, feels like we are playing at home. We had a good start in the first six overs and later on we had a good spin attack. The fast bowlers also finished very well. When we crossed the boundary line, me and Babar decided that we can attack the new ball, because we knew that the pitch was tricky, a little bit difficult, and 150 [153] was a good target on this pitch," Rizwan said. "We decided we're going to do hard work and attack these guys, and when we finish the powerplay, one of the guys will go deep, because obviously pitch was tricky, and Alhamdulillah, Allah helped us and we succeeded. I think he [Haris] is a young guy and showing his aggression. We will enjoy this moment, but at the same time we will focus on the final.

Masood punches his fist and the celebrations begin in Pakistan's camp. Babar and Haris are off their seats. Shadab lets out a huge roar. Pakistan's players now take a lap of honour at the SCG. Dil Dil Pakistan reverberates around the SCG.

Pakistan have made it 1992 again. After losing their first two games of the tournament, against India and Zimbabwe, Pakistan were on the brink of elimination. They are now in the final of the T20 World Cup after knocking NZ out. After the bowlers put in a clinical display on a subcontinental-style SCG track, Rizwan and Babar maximised the powerplay for Pakistan and struck up a century stand that set up their chase beautifully. Beware India/England, Babar is back in form.

What might have been had Babar not been dropped by Conway first ball? In all NZ dropped three catches on the day in a sloppy fielding display. Before Wednesday, NZ had dropped just three catches in the tournament. They had also failed to maximised their powerplay with the bat today and though Mitchell made a fine half-century it was not enough to recover lost ground. Pakistan were simply outstanding with the ball in the last six overs, allowing just 53 runs off those 36 deliveries.

Rizwan, Player of the Match: Obviously, me and Babar decided to go after the new ball and the pitch was difficult. When we finished powerplay, the discussion was one of the guys to go deep. The guys have worked hard and we have always believed.

Matthew Hayden, Pakistan mentor: Fantastic. Tonight was very special and a few things came out for us. Everyone will talk about Babar and Rizwan, but that bowling attack did an unbelievable job. Sky is the limit and both of these guys have done it for Pakistan for a number of years and I also want to mention Haris as well. He faces every fast bowler in the nets and smashes them.  On this surface, the bowlers had to adapt and we got Shaheen back up and running. Once it starts to reverse-swing, boy! he's hard to handle. Haris can bowl 150kph. I'd like to face India, pretty much because of the spectacle. It's unthinkable.

Bilal Haider: "Reminder: Haris wasn't part of the squad, he's only here because Fakhar got injured midway through tournament"

Sarmad: "I can't believe my eyes, few days ago, we were almost at the bottom of table and now into the Final. Special thanks to The Netherlands ❤️ miracle my friend miracle! "

Shabaib Naqvi: "MCG.. World Cup Final.... Pakistan 1992 Reloading....."

Brent: "What the heck Black Caps?Smash Australia and meekly roll over to Pakistan, who are good team and yet only fluked their way in to semi because of a SA choke. "

Gokul Pradeep V: "Spare a thought for KW. Was under fire for his strike rate, got back to form last game with a strike rate of 174, but failed to up the ante in this crunch game and ended up with a strike rate of 109 !! "

Ashish: "If not for the dropped catches, NZ would have had the better of pakistan but it was written in the stars for paksitan to reach the finals after their fairytale entry into the semis."

Akshay : "As an Indian, tomorrow's match is now so much more exciting. Are we going to have a replay of the 1992 WC final or the 2007 T20 WC final?"

Four inside the circle on off side and two on leg side.

Masood is the new man for Pakistan

Venu: "SCG looks like lahore today! Imagine tomorrow it will be a mix of chepauk,chinnaswamy,wankade "