CAPE TOWN, Sept 22: Emerging paceman Umar Gul grabbed three wickets and opener Imran Nazir scored his maiden half-century to help Pakistan record a six-wicket win against New Zealand in the Twenty20 World Championship semi-final here at Newlands on Saturday.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and his team scored 143-8 in the allotted 20 overs. Pakistan chased the target easily, reaching 147-4 with seven balls to spare.

New Zealand got off to a good start with a 50-run partnership between opening batsmen Brendon McCullum and Lou Vincent, but a 33-minute break for rain broke the rhythm of the innings, and Vincent fell to a sharp caught-and-bowled chance off Fawad Alam when the batsman had collected 28. McCullum fell soon afterward for 26.

The New Zealand middle-order batsmen all managed to get starts, but none of them turned them into substantial scores.

Umar Gul was exceptional, finishing with excellent figures of 3-15 off his four overs, and his wickets were Scot Styris, Peter Fulton and Jacob Oram. Umar, a tall right-arm fast bowler, came on after the 12th over, as he has throughout the tournament, and bowled his spell unchanged.

“It was a team decision that I bowl that way, and I was happy to do that, even though I usually take the new ball,” Umar, who was named man of the match, said.

New Zealand’s batsmen managed to get themselves into trouble in the pursuit of runs, with Vettori and Shane Bond getting run out in the final few overs when the pressure was on.

“We got into a bit of a mire, and then tried to catch up on the runs,” Vettori said.

Fawad, a dashing young all-rounder, gave Umar good support with his bowling, taking 2-29 in three overs. Pakistan’s innings got off to a good but controversial start. Imran Nazir called for a runner without appearing to have been injured.

“He was able to sprint on to the field and celebrate, and charge down the pitch at our bowlers,” Vettori said. “We don’t believe he was injured, and we don’t play our cricket like that.”

However, Pakistan had their own view on the subject.

“He (Imran) was struggling with his groin injury,” Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik said. “And that’s why he needed a runner.”

Imran’s 59 in 41 balls was punctuated by three fours and five sixes, and he shared in a good opening partnership of 60 with Mohammad Nafeez, who was the second top scorer with 32 off 21 balls.

Vettori and his fellow-spinner Jeetan Patel remained economical in their bowling, despite the ease of Pakistan’s win. Vettori took 1-22 in four overs and Patel 1-31 in three overs and five balls.

The second semi-final was to be played later Saturday between Australia and India at Kingsmead, Durban.

The final of the inaugural Twenty20 event is set for Monday in Johannesburg.

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