‘Whole country will attack Nawaz but it was Babar Azam…’: Wasim Akram on Pakistan captain's ‘massive error’ vs SA

First things first, credit to Pakistan for making a match of it. South Africa always had their noses in front in the 271-run chase but Pakistan hung in there and when Aiden Markram threw his wicket away with 21 runs still to get, Pakistan, for the first time, got a hold of the match. It was a great move by Babar Azam to throw the ball to leg-spinner Usama Mir. If Markram batted another over or two, he would have not only gotten to a well-deserved century but also won the match for South Africa. Sensing this, Babar took a gamble by bringing the leggie into the attack. And it worked, Markram went for the glory shot and ended up losing his wicket for 93.

Babar was once again quick to react. He kept Shaheen Afridi on from the other end despite knowing he had only two overs left. This game was not going to last till the 50th over. Shaheen delivered with the wicket of Gerald Coetzee and now Pakistan were on top.

Babar brought another change. He took Usama off and got Haris Rauf back from his end. The extra pace of Shaheen and Haris was always going to be a handful for the South African tail and so it was. Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi battled for three overs before the latter was out caught and bowled by Rauf in the 46th over. The match would have been finished in that over itself had an umpire's call rule not come to the rescue of South Africa No.11 Tabraiz Shamsi.

South Africa now needed 8 runs in 4 overs with 1 wicket in hand. Shaheen and Haris were bowled out and Mohammad Wasim Junior, the other specialist fast bowler had only one over remaining. Babar took the chance. It was a make-or-break moment for Pakistan. He threw the ball to Wasim with the hope of finishing the match in the 47th over.

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Maharaj and Shamsi also knew this. They somehow managed to survive Wasim's over and also got three runs. 5 runs were needed now.

Babar, who had been pretty good with his bowling changes till then, made a surprising decision. Instead of bringing leg-spinner Mir back into the attack, who had a better chance of foxing the lower-order batters, Babar gave the ball to left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, who does not particularly have a good record in the death overs.

Nawaz's first delivery was clipped off his pads by Shamsi for a single. The second was dragged down further. Maharaj got inside the line of it and whipped it. There was no one patrolling the fine leg boundary and the ball raced away to the fence. The South African pair jumped and roared while there was disbelief in the Pakistan camp.

Babar was seen having a few animated words with Nawaz. But was it the right call to give him the ball in that situation? Legendary Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram doesn't think so. He called it a 'massive error' from Babar.

‘Didn’t understand why Babar gave the ball to Nawaz when Usama had overs': Akram

"There were a couple of mistakes at the end. When a team loses then criticism is natural. The last over was given to Nawaz. I know the whole country will attack Nawaz but at that time Usama Mir had two overs left. Who was bowling better at that moment? Usama Mir. Who had more chances of baffling the tailenders with googlies? Usama. His first three-four overs weren't good but he got two wickets for you. So Usama should have bowled that over, then Nawaz. Otherwise, the captaincy was fine. he bowled the main bowlers, got wickets. But I didn't understand why he gave the ball to Nawaz in that over. His confidence was not there. The angle he creates with his release point will always take the ball down the leg side. So that was a massive mistake from our captain," he said on A Sports.

Akram, however, did not forget to count the positives for Pakistan, who are now at the mercy of other teams and complex mathematical calculations to advance to the semi-finals. "They made a game out of it. Haris bowled his heart out. It was good to see Wasim making an impact in this game. He's got the talent, we all know but he didn't get consistent chances. Today he was very good. His pace was up, bowled consistently over 140. He got some swing and troubled the South African batters."