Matthew Wade: Was nervous, thinking it’s my last game

Wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade walked in to bat assuming it’s his final opportunity to represent Australia before smashing an unbeaten match-winning 41 against Pakistan

Wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade thought the T20 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan would “potentially be his last opportunity to represent Australia” before becoming the star of the show with a sizzling 41-run knock that helped his side reach the final.

Wade blazed his way to an unbeaten 17-ball effort to play a pivotal role in Australia’s dramatic five-wicket win over Pakistan on Thursday.

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‘I just wanted to do well’

“I was a little bit nervous coming into the game and knowing potentially it could be the last opportunity to represent Australia,” Wade said at the post-match press conference. “I just wanted to do well and really wanted us to win this game, give us an opportunity to win the whole thing.

“[The final] might be my last game too. As I’ve said in the past, I’m comfortable with it. I’m sure when I get the tap on the shoulder, I’ll look back on the last three or four years and be proud of the way I could come back,” he added. With Australia needing 62 off 30 balls, Wade smashed three consecutive sixes off Shaheen Shah Afridi in the penultimate over to seal the game for his team.

Also Read: T20 World Cup: Happy to repay team's faith in me, says Matthew Wade

Asked if he was targeting Afridi, regarded as one of the finest T20 bowlers, Wade said: “We didn’t really target him, to be honest. Marcus Stoinis [40 not out off 31 balls] played a terrific innings to be able to get it to a total we started to think could be chaseable towards the end there.

“I think the way he played freed me up to be able to do what I did at the end there. He’s a terrific bowler, and I just got lucky tonight, I suppose.” Wade’s international career had seemed all but over when he was dropped before the 2017-18 Ashes.

Reinventing oneself

Wade, 33, also went three years without an international T20. Since then he has reinvented himself as a specialist batter.

Asked to reflect on his journey, Wade said, “It’s hard to reflect on tonight so quickly, to be honest. Hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m sure when we get back to the hotel and tomorrow morning it will sink in more about how we went about it than what we just had. But I’m happy that I got the opportunity to reinvent myself, go away and come back with more confidence and really feel like I belong at the international level now. I reinvented myself into a batsman and all of a sudden now I’m playing as a ’keeper-batsman now batting at No.7.”

81
No. of runs put on by Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis off just 41 balls for the sixth wicket

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