5 Best Comebacks in T20 internationals

The shortest format of cricket i.e. T20 never ceases to amaze us. The match, where Pakistan converted a definite loss to a win against Sri Lanka was nothing but a miracle. But, such marvels have happened before in this format and this article takes you through them.

1) Sri Lanka vs India- 10th February 2009

It’s always fascinating to see the two best teams from the sub-continent to battle it out in the shortest format. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat at the Premadasa wicket and posted a competitive 171, thanks to an excellent fifty by Dilshan and a quick fire 33 from Jayasuria.

India, in reply, didn’t have the greatest start and soon were struggling at 115 for 7 at the start of the 15th over. Sri Lanka would have fancied their chances but, from there on, the Pathan brothers took the game away from the hosts. Irfan and Yusuf scored 33 and 22 respectively and took India home with 4 balls to spare. To add to this, they also picked up 3 wickets giving away just 57 runs from their combined 8 overs.

2) Australia vs Pakistan- 14th May 2010

Having won the previous T20 world cup, the defending champions, Pakistan, had been going strong in this one and had a slight edge over the mighty Australians in this semi-final. Having scored a mammoth 191, they were most certainly the favorites. The pressure from such a massive score saw Australia being reduced to 144 for 7 in the 18th over. However, from there on, Mr. Cricket took over the responsibility. A target of 48 runs from 17 balls required a superhuman effort to take

Australia across the line, in which Michael Hussey was successful. Australia required 18 from the last over with Johnson on strike who took a single. Nevertheless, 6-6-4-6 was how the over looked like afterwards as Australia stunned Pakistan to enter the finals.

3) Netherlands vs South Africa- 27th March 2014

Had Netherlands pulled off the run chase, which at one stage was looking easy, this could have been a big upset. Being put to bat, the proteas lost Quinton de Cock quickly. Hashim Amla steadied things for a while, but Ahsan Malik was in no mood to give away the good start that the dutch had. Due to his excellent figures of 5 for 19 from 4 overs, which are also the third best in T20 world cups, South Africa were reduced to 145 for 9.

Netherlands had a great start taking 33 off two overs from Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Stephan Myburgh got out at the score of 80, which the dutch had reached in just 7.5 overs. 9 out of 10, teams would win after that, but Imran Tahir and Dale Steyn ensured that there was a collapse and Netherlands lost the match by 6 runs.

4) Pakistan vs Australia- 23rd March 2014

This is the second close match between these two teams featured in this list. It was a group game in which Australia put Pakistan to bat and Pakistan again scored a mammoth 191, owing to an excellent 94 from Umar Akmal.

Australians were going great guns chasing the target with Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell smashed the Pakistani bowlers all around the park. But, as soon as Maxwell was removed from the crease, runs were difficult to come by and a collapse saw Australia getting bowled out for 175. For Pakistan, Zulfiqar Babar,  Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi, and Bilawal Bhatti took 2 wickets each.

5) Sri Lanka vs Pakistan- 1st August 2015

This was the second of the two-match T20 series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with the former leading 1-0. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat and owing to the 40s from Shehan Jayasuriya and Chamara Kapugedera, the Lankans posted 172 on the board.

Chasing 173, Pakistan got a very poor start with the youngster, Dilhara Fernando sending both the openers back, and due some poor judgement in running and rash shots, Pakistan was reeling at 40 for 5. However, quick  40s from Shahid Afridi and Anwar Ali and an important 24 from Imad Wasim saw Pakistan going over the line with 4 balls to spare and just 1 wicket in hand.