Pakistan were beaten by Australia in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2021 on Thursday (11 November). Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis were the match winners for Australia as their partnership ensured Aussies crossed the finishing line with an over to spare.
The win stopped Pakistan from entering the World Cup final and also ended their winning streak in UAE leading to heartbreak for players and Pakistani team. The Babar Azam-led side had not lost a single game in the Super 12 stage of the tournament and was, by some distance, the best team in this edition. However, Thursday night did not go according to their plans.
Stars family #TeamGreen pic.twitter.com/0WKyYRiLdz
— Melbourne Stars (@StarsBBL) November 11, 2021
Pakistan bowler Haris Rauf had a bad day in office as he went for 36 runs in his three overs. That was the first bad game he's had in this tournament. He finished the tournament with eight wickets in six games.
Rauf, like all other Pakistan players, must be distraught after the loss. However, he and Australian player Glenn Maxwell shared a heartfelt moment after the game.
Maxwell and Rauf both play in Big Bash League for Melbourne Stars. In fact, Rauf made his debut for Stars under captaincy of Maxwell. Later after the match, both of them exchanged their team jerseys, showing the respect both of them have for each other.
Last year, Rauf had picked up 20 wickets in BBL. Maxwell had many words of praise for Rauf back then.
He had said, "He’s an absolute entertainment machine and people love coming to watch that. The story of him coming from club cricket into Pakistan eyes was absolutely outstanding, and was the story of the BBL tournament for mine."
