Although it happened almost a decade ago, it is still as enthralling as it was back then. Pakistan lost the third quarter final of the Cricket World Cup 2015 against Australia following a terrible performance with the bat but the bowling attack, particularly Wahab Riaz, put up a fight, delivering a fast bowling masterclass.
Although the match was predictably lost, one bowler, Wahab Riaz delivered one of the best fast bowling spells ever. It had everything; pace, strategy and most importantly aggression and it was all targeted towards Australia’s Matt Watson.
In a later interview it came to light that Watson had sledged Wahab who had come in as a tailender during Pakistan’s innings. Wahab wanted to repay in kind and what followed was a flurry of short-pitched fast bowling mastery along with a diverse self-styled form of sledging by Wahab that included but was not limited to staring, laughing at the batsman after a bouncer, slow-clapping Watson’s defensive shots and even a blown kiss.
Unfortunately, all that effort would come to naught as Riaz would finally force Watson to hook a short delivery to the leg side boundary where Rahat Ali would drop a sitter.
ICC uploaded the official full highlights of the exchange on their Youtube channel today, in high definition. Previously there were only unofficial pixilated incomplete cuts.
Watch here:
