‘Pakistan outplayed New Zealand in all three departments’ Anil Kumble

Former Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble praised Pakistan for their performance against New Zealand in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup as he believes the Men in Green outplayed Blackcaps in all three departments of the game.

After restricting New Zealand to 152-4, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam slammed fifties to take Pakistan home.

Pakistan will meet either England or India – who play on Thursday in Adelaide – in the November 13 decider at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. 

“The best part of today was yes, Pakistan definitely out-bowled New Zealand, they out-batted New Zealand, but most importantly they out-fielded New Zealand, which is very, very rare,” said Anil Kumble on Cricinfo’s T20 Time Out show.

Kumble was joined by former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody, who picked Shadab Khan’s diving stop at mid-on following Kane Williamson’s crisp on-drive off Haris Rauf’s bowling in the powerplay.

That particular piece of fielding, according to Moody, was an indicator of Pakistan’s body language today. “The tone for me was set with one piece of fielding. And it’s not the run-out. It’s before the run-out [of Devon Conway],” said Moody.

“It was by Shadab [Khan], who was at mid-on, dived and stopped the ball from going for four. Kane Williamson played a beautiful on-drive, a straight on-drive, and he [Shadab] saved two runs.

“And that to me set the tone for the way they were going to operate at a team. You talk about body language but you need moments like that to lift the unit and that’s the standard that he basically said ‘this is the standard we are going to set today.”