CAPE TOWN/DURBAN, Sept 22: Pakistan overwhelmed New Zealand and India stunned favourites Australia on Saturday to set up a mouth-watering final in the Twenty20 world championship.

The final, at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Monday, will be the first major title clash between India and Pakistan since a limited-overs tournament in Melbourne in 1985.

In the first semi-final, at Cape Town, a half-century by Imran Nazir and three wickets from paceman Umar Gul helped Pakistan beat New Zealand by six wickets with seven balls to spare.

Gul was not introduced until the 12th over at Newlands, but quickly removed Scott Styris (18), Peter Fulton (10) and Jacob Oram (1) to restrict New Zealand to a modest 143 for eight after electing to bat first.

Opener Nazir, batting with a runner after injuring his leg, then lashed three fours and five sixes in his 41-ball innings of 59 to lead Pakistan to victory. Nazir put on 60 for the first wicket with Mohammad Hafeez (32).

At Durban, Yuvraj Singh smashed 70 off 30 balls as India, electing to take first strike, made a challenging 188-5 and then restricted Australia to 173-7 in a rousing semi-final.

Australia, needing 27 off the last 12 balls, were kept down to five runs in the 19th over bowled by left-arm seamer Rudra Pratap Singh and six runs in Joginder Sharma’s last over.

Sharma, who was hammered for 31 runs in his first two overs, was gambled for the final over by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and came good with two wickets at the end.—Agencies