Australia won WT20 match held last night, crashing out Pakistan in their 21-run Super League Group 2 win and kept themselves in the hunt for the semi finals.

After scoring a competitive 193/4, Australia found their go-to-man in pacer James Faulkner after skipper Steve Smith (61 not out) and Shane Watson (44 not out) had set the stage on fire. Faulkner killed the chase scoring 5/27, including two wickets in the final over, even as Pakistan looked threatening in the beginning and finally winded up with 172/8.

Also read: WT20: Australia won over Bangladesh

The current result has now made the India-Australia match on Sunday, which is the final league game from Group 2, a virtual quarterfinal.

If Pakistan were having any hopes of keeping their last four chances alive, Australia made sure they stalled all of their plans. Smith & Co. outclassed them in every department giving glimpses of what India can expect on Sunday.

Despite losing openers Sharjeel Khan (30) and Ahmed Shehzad (0) early, Pakistan began their chase at a brisj pace. Having the need of scoring 9 runs per over, Pakistan seemed in hunt till the 10 overs placed at 79/2 but lost the plot hereafter.

Faulkner bowled with accuracy and varied his pace to fox the opposition and with Khalid Latif (46), Umar Akmal (32) and Afridi (14) back in the hunt with the scores, reading 147/3 in 17.3 overs, recovery seemed impossible.

By Phani Ch