In the latest instalment of his regular blog for PakPassion, Brian Murgertroyd reviews Pakistan's road to the Semi Finals at the ICC World T20 tournament and discusses what Pakistan need to do to win the ultimate accolade.

By Brian Murgertroyd (3rd October, 2012)

If I could have one message for Pakistan ahead of the semi-finals of the ICC World Twenty20 it would be this: forget about how you finish each match and each innings; instead, the main focus must be on how you start.

The reason for that approach is simple – because the format is such a short one, the team that gets off to a good start with either bat or ball invariably wins the match because there is so little time to recover if the wheels fall off in the first six overs.

Australia has shown that best in the early matches through Shane Watson and David Warner. They have given their side power-packed starts, including one century stand and one fifty partnership in their first four outings, and that has set the platform for their domination of each match they have won.

It was the same in the one game they won against Pakistan in the T20I series in the UAE last month: a century opening stand set them up for a significant total and Pakistan crumpled in a heap under scoreboard pressure when their turn came to bat.

Whenever both Warner and Watson have departed early – game one in Dubai and also the Super Eights against Pakistan, for example – Australia have faltered. Pakistan can take a lesson from that, no doubt.

The lack of decent batting starts for Pakistan in the Super Eights stage after excellent beginnings against Bangladesh and New Zealand in the group games has been made up for by superb bowling, especially at the start of opposition innings.

Spin has been to the fore with Raza Hassan and Saeed Ajmal outstanding and it will become more and more important as the final week of the tournament progresses as the pitches, already tired and lacking grass, become drier still and turn even more.

As I see it, there are just three potential flies in the ointment for Pakistan that can prevent them becoming the first side to lift the ICC World Twenty20 trophy for the second time: a brilliant individual performance from an opposition player; the fact they are playing Sri Lanka rather than Australia or West Indies in the semi-final; and the threat of rain.

The individual factor is a constant threat in this form of the game. The format is so short that one player can have a match-winning influence on the outcome with a quick-fire innings or a clutch of wickets. That can happen and all you can do as a team is to try and maintain the disciplines that got you to the knock-out stages in the first place and trust that is enough.

As for the presence of Sri Lanka, the side Pakistan beat to become champions in 2009, their ability to play spin far better than the other two sides left in the tournament, could reduce but not completely nullify Pakistan’s strength in that area; and the fact Sri Lanka have quality spinners of their own is another potentially significant factor.

The rain, if it comes down – and there is every chance it will given the event is ending in what is statistically one of Sri Lanka’s wettest months of the year – has the potential to be damaging in two ways for Pakistan as not only would moisture negate the spin threat by making the ball tough to grip, it would also hurt Umar Gul’s ability to gain reverse swing late in the innings.

With Pakistan’s batsmen consistent only in their ability to be inconsistent, it means they – and their long-suffering fans can take nothing for granted despite the excellence of the bowling attack.

But from a positive perspective, everyone will be hoping they have got their really poor game out of their system in that display against India.

That really was one of those nights when anything that could go badly did go badly, very much in the same vein as that final T20I against Australia in Dubai in September.

But the loss against India may also be the wake-up call the side needed ahead of what are, in effect, a maximum of three ‘finals’.

The display against MS Dhoni’s side certainly shocked the team’s management and I have never seen Dav Whatmore more angry than he was that night and that is after more than two decades of interacting with him.

Whatever was said afterwards and ahead of the Australia Super Eights game by both management and senior players certainly had the desired effect. There was no “cornered tiger” speech, just a realisation the team was terrible against India and had to improve or else they were on their way out.

While that realisation did not change the top-order hesitancy, it did have a great effect on the fielding and bowling and that effort against George Bailey’s side was Pakistan at their best.

As one Australia player said to me the morning after that game, blowing his cheeks out to emphasise the point: “Pakistan were on it yesterday!”

No team has a better record in ICC World Twenty20s than Pakistan: one title, a runner’s-up spot and now two semi-final appearances in the four tournaments that have been held. Let us hope they can be “on it” again at least twice more because if they are, then a second title will surely follow.

Discuss!