Australia's Mathew Wade retiring after T20 World Cup Finals? All we know so far

Matthew Wade is currently the hot topic of discussion among cricket fans around the world following his match-winning knock against Pakistan in the 2nd T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final on Thursday. The attacking wicketkeeper-batsman remained unbeaten on 41 runs which included 3 back to back sixes to Shaheen Afridi in the 19th over which sealed Australia's place in the T20 World Cup final. Following the heroic knock, Matthew Wade spoke about his mindset while playing the important match of the tournament.

Is Matthew Wade retiring? Australia cricketer gives update following match-winning knock

Matthew Wade innings took fans back to the 2010 T20 World Cup where Mike Hussey proved to be the nemesis for Pakistan scoring an unbeaten 60 runs and pulling victory from the jaws of defeat. The knock certainly cements Matthew Wade's spot in the T20I team especially when there were calls about the inclusion of Alex Carey, Tim Paine and Peter Handscomb in recent years. Josh Inglis who is currently part of the squad was backed to be included in playing 11 but at least, for now, Wade has managed to keep his spot. 

Talking about the performance Matthew Wade said, 

"I was a little bit nervous coming into the game and knowing that potentially this could be the last opportunity I get to represent Australia.  I just wanted to do well and really wanted us to win this game to give us an opportunity to win the whole thing. We've got a great bunch of guys in that dressing room and guys that I've played for a long, long period of time with."

Matthew Wade's 3 sixes

Heading into the final few overs Australia needed a miracle to pull off a victory against Pakistan especially with Babar Azam's team looking in control of the match. With 22 runs needed from the last two overs, Pakistan skipper Azam decided to bring his strike bowler Shaheen Afridi to try and close out the match. Afridi almost had the wicket of  Marcus Stoinis only for keeper Mohammad Rizwan to confirm that the ball had bounced. The second ball was a leg bye with Stoinis and Wade swapping places. 

The turning point of the match came in the third ball of the over when a slower delivery by Shaheen Afridi was skied by Wade with no proper timing to the shot. Hasan Ali despite getting the hand failed to latch onto the catch at deep mid-wicket with Wade on 21.

The drop proved too costly for Pakistan as Wade took the match away from them in space of three balls. He first played a paddle-scoop which went over the fine-leg fence. The next ball was launched over the mid-wicket boundary bringing down the equation to 6 runs off 6 deliveries.

Pakistan was desperate to keep the match alive and needed special effort to keep their unbeaten run intact. However, Shaheen Afridi bowled a full toss to which Wade played another paddle scoop as the ball sailed over the fine-leg fence and with that the paved path for Australia to enter the final.

Image: Instagram/@t20worldcup