Cricket World Cup 2015: Wahab Riaz – what a spell!

New Delhi: Considering the fact they had a paltry total to defend against Australia in the third quarter-final, Misbah-ul-Haq needed a special effort from his seam bowlers to make a match of it.

And Wahab Riaz, who was sledged by the Aussies while he was batting, made life miserable for the opposition, Shane Watson in particular, with a breathtaking spell of fast bowling.

After Sohail Khan got Pakistan their first breakthrough in the form of Aaron Finch, Wahab picked the second wicket – of dangerous David Warner who hit a bouncer straight towards third man. When Michael Clarke came to bat, Misbah deployed a fielder at short leg and the ploy did wonders as the skipper uncomfortably fended off a well directed bouncer from Wahab straight towards Sohaib Maqsood in that position.

Australia had no respite, as once Clarke was back in the pavilion, Wahab fired a barrage of bouncers to Shane Watson, who looked extremely vulnerable against the left-armer. After ducking bouncers for quite some time, Watson couldn't resist pulling one of them, which he mistimed towards deep fine leg where Rahat Ali dropped a sitter.

Watson was batting on 4 off 15 balls and it would have been a huge boost for Pakistan had Rahat grabbed on to the opportunity. Wahab created another chance in his seventh over where Glenn Maxwell skied one towards wide of third man where another easy catch was dropped, this time by Sohail Khan.

These two catches cost Pakistan dearly as the duo went on to win the match.

Even though Pakistan lost the match, Wahab's superb effort was hailed by several cricket experts who thought it was one of the finest spells of fast bowling by an overseas player in Australia of late.