T20 World Cup: Survivor Matthew Wade treated Pakistan game as his last for Australia | Cricket News – Times of India

When Matthew Wade sat down to meet the press after his match winning effort on Thursday, a Pakistani journalist told him that the nation would never forget him and Mike Hussey for what the duo did to them in T20 World Cups.
Wade smiled.
He knows what Hussey did in the 2010 semifinal, hitting Saeed Ajmal for three sixes in the last over to win a losing game for Australia. And Wade’s effort on Thursday was something similar — three sixes off the best Pakistan bowler, Shaheen Shah Afridi, in the 19th over — that sent the 2009 champions home.
Even though Pakistan puts Wade on the same pedestal as Hussey, the wicketkeeper batsman knows he is not.
‘Mr Cricket’ is one of the legends of Australian cricket, while Wade is only a survivor. In life as in cricket. But the 33-year-old, who fought back from testicular cancer at the age of 16, is probably a little tired of fighting another battle to extend his international cricket career.

“I was a little bit nervous coming into the game knowing that potentially this could be the last opportunity I get to represent Australia…The final may be my last game too — it is what it is…I am comfortable with it, I will play as long as they need me,” Wade dropped a hint that the end may not be too far away.
Making his international debut in 2011, the left-hander has been always in and out of the Australian team, never knowing when the sack is round the corner. He has played as a wicketkeeper-batsman, then he became only a batsman, losing the keeper’s slot to Tim Paine in Tests and Alex Carey in limited-overs, only to fight back again and get back the gloves.
He doesn’t have a fixed slot in batting either — Wade was tried out both in the middle-order and the opening slot even in the Bangladesh series — and the team management finally settled down for the finisher’s spot.

“I have probably been dropped the most times in Australian cricket. I don’t see my spot on the line because I am not 23 anymore,” Wade said, as he tried to soak in the adulation after the 17-ball 41* that took his team to the final.
There was obviously a sense of relief in his voice as he recounted his journey with Marcus Stoinis to the finish line, but you could feel the constant changing in his batting position has taken its toll over the years. But his survivor’s instinct helped him keep the fight going.
“It’s not been easy over the years. But this is the position that my team wants to play and I am up for it…Marcus, Steve Smith and I have been doing these specific sessions with these kinds of scenarios in mind. And when you bat with somebody like Marcus, who is so relaxed at the other end, things tend to get easier,” Wade said.

Two off his three sixes off Afridi were lap shots, which isn’t easy to execute against such pace. Wade acknowledged that, too, was product of some serious practice, because the shot helps him “open up the ground a little bit”.
“I just wanted to do well and really wanted us to win this game to give us an opportunity to win the whole thing. We’ve got a great bunch of guys in that dressing room and guys that I’ve played for a long, long period of time with,” the left-hander said, hoping that the fairytale run will finish with a win against New Zealand on Sunday.