CAPE TOWN, Sept 22: Pakistan Captain Shoaib Malik hailed his side’s impressive bowling unit after they became the first team to qualify for the inaugural World Twenty20 final.

Malik, whose side appeared to benefit from a brief rain break, told Sky Sports 3: “I want to thank my team-mates for all Pakistan’s people. It was a great win and our bowlers are bowling brilliantly at the moment. We contained them well and then we chased.

“When the rain came I was just saying, ‘This is our day. Let’s have some effort, we have plans, we need to stick to them. We restricted them well.”

Man of the Match Umar Gul confirmed his success was all down to hard work. “It’s been good because (Mohammad) Asif and Sohail Tanvir have been bowling so well with the new ball. I’ve been practising the yorker, the slower ball, the bouncer and I will try to continue to perform well and I will do best to do this in the final.”

Losing skipper of New Zealand, Daniel Vettori admitted his side were disappointed with their efforts at the crease. “Despite a pretty good start with the bat, when you make 143 on a wicket like that, a pretty good one, it’s hard.

‘‘It was great effort in the field but wasn’t to be this time. We’ve been pretty erratic with the batting and looking back over the tournament that is what has let us down. We’re bitterly disappointed to lose.”—Agencies