Michael Hussey slammed unbeaten 60 off 24 balls to lead Australia into Twenty20 World Cup final as they beat Pakistan by three wickets at Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia on Friday.
Chasing 192-run target, Hussey put on two important partnership to lead the run chase for Australia amidst losing wickets at regular intervals against Pakistan.
Hussey hit three fours and six sixes in his 24-ball blitzkrieg and added match-winning 53-run unbeaten partnership with Mitchell Johnson (5) for the eighth wicket.
For Pakistan, Mohammad Aamer (3-35) and Abdur Rehman (2-33) shared five Australian wickets between them.
Australia lost Steven Smith (5) and Cameron White (43) in successive overs. Spinner Saeed Ajmal foxed Smith in the eighteenth over after pacer Mohammad Aamer scalped the dangerous White in the previous one.
White slammed five sixes in his quick-fire 31-ball inning and added 34 runs with Michael Hussey for the sixth wicket.
Abdur Rehman took his second wicket when he caught and bowled David Hussey (13) in the thirteenth over.
Skipper Shahid Afridi dismissed his counterpart Michael Clarke (17) in the ninth over to reduce Australia to 62/4 in 8.2 overs. Spinner Abdur Rehman scalped Brad Haddin (25) in the previous over to end the 32-run partnership between Haddin and Clarke for the third wicket.
Pacer Mohammad Aamer took two early wickets to put Pakistan in driver's seat after the heroics of Akmal brothers while batting.
Aamer dismissed Shane Watson (16) in the third over after taking the wicket of David Warner (0) in the very first over and reduced Australia to 26/2 in 2.3 overs.
Earlier, Umar Akmal's unbeaten 56 and Kamran Akmal's 50 powered Pakistan to 191/6 against Australia at Beausejour Stadium.
The younger Akmal's unbeaten knock that came off 35 balls, was studded with 4 sixes and 2 fours and his attacking strokeplay left the Aussies stunned.
Put in to bat, Pakistan got off to a good start with Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt bringing up their 50-run stand in the seventh over.
Butt and Akmal negotiated the Australian bowlers with ease on an easy-paced track in St Lucia and started going for their shots once they were set.
Akmal hit a 32-ball half-century before Mitchell Johnson had him caught by David Warner at deep extra cover.
Akmal hit 2 sixes and 6 fours in his quickfire knock before another big shot found Warner in the deep.
Soon after, Warner took his second catch at deep square leg when Butt mistimed a hit off Steven Smith after hitting 4 fours in his 30-ball 32.
David Hussey then had Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi caught by Brad Haddin to reduce the defending champions to 114/3 and just when it looked like Australia will come back into the game, Akmal began to play his shots.
Pakistan lost Khalid Latif (13) and Abdul Razzaq (12) but Akmal's stunning strokeplay gave them no respite as the 19-year-old hit Johnson for two towering sixes in one over to put the Aussies under some serious pressure.
