Pakistan looked for a miracle to secure a berth in the final of the Coca-Cola Cup 2000. The Moin Khan-led side had struggled throughout the triangular series at Sharjah — a ground that had otherwise been kind to Pakistan.
Shaun Pollock-led South Africa got off to a steady start in the chase of a paltry 169. Stationed at 74 with just one wicket down, the Proteas eyed their 15th consecutive victory against Pakistan.
However, the match turned on its head in five minutes when the fastest bowler of the contemporary era, Shoaib Akhtar, steamed in to bowl the 17th over of the inning.
The Rawalpindi Express banged the first ball short-of-length. It kissed Mark Boucher’s bat on its way to Khan’s gloves.
The right-hander, who put up a run-a-ball 47 with Herschelle Gibbs, seemed doubtful of the umpire’s call. Nonetheless, the replay later revealed the ball to be within height limits.
Akhtar’s belligerence saw Dale Benkenstein on the receiving end of a ferocious yorker on the latter’s very first ball. Benkenstein lasted only two more balls. Akhtar’s thunderbolts had infused such fear in the batsman that he did not dare put his front foot in the line of the ball as the Pakistani quick rattled his stumps on the fourth ball of the over. W, 0, 0, W displayed the over’s timeline.
Next came in one of the cleanest hitters, Lance Klusner to rescue South Africa. But Proteas went from 74 for 1 to 74 for 4 in no time.
Akhtar’s phenomenal display of pace and seam curtailed the left-hander’s stay at the crease to only two balls. Klusner’s off-stump was shaken by the red-hot in-dipper, as Akhtar completed the over with three wickets to his name without conceding a run.
A few overs later, Akhtar was helped off the field mid-over as he pulled his groin. His pace buddies Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Abdul Razzaq wrapped up South Africa on 101.
The remarkable six deliveries by Akhtar during his fourth over bagged him the man-of-the-match award in the crucial group-match.
Pakistan rode into the final on Akhtar’s 3/9 and beat the same opposition to lift the Coca-Cola Cup.
