Odean Smith and Hassan Khan Ignite Late Innings

The closing overs belonged to the batters. They had to. The field was spread, the spinners were hunting for dots, and the pressure of a climbing required rate hung over the middle. Then Hassan Khan and Odean Smith changed the mood.

Imran Tahir, with all his experience, tried to suffocate them. He darted one just outside leg to Smith, who shuffled across, looking to help it fine. He missed, wore a cheeky smile, and walked away. No run, but no sign of panic either. Smith knew there were balls to cash in on.

The intent had already been signalled an over earlier.

Khary Pierre, miserly and accurate, came in for his final set with figures that reflected control. Hassan Khan decided he’d had enough of that. After picking off a pair of twos – one via an inside edge towards midwicket, another cut with the spin past deep backward point – he finally broke the shackles off the last ball of the over.

Pierre went full on the stumps at 86kph. Hassan sank to one knee and launched a slogsweep. The ball sailed over deep midwicket, a 72-metre blow that sent a clear message: the chase was very much alive. Pierre walked off with 2 for 21 from his four, an excellent spell, but that final swing gave the batting side a surge of belief.

Smith, at the other end, played the foil and the finisher. Against Pierre, he manufactured room, backing away just enough to dink a single to long-off. Not glamorous, but smart – he kept the strike rotating, refused to let the bowler dictate.

Then came Mohammad Nabi, closing out a disciplined spell. He had been difficult to line up all evening, mixing pace and flight, finishing with 4-0-25-1. Even so, Smith and Hassan kept chipping away. Smith knocked Nabi down the ground to long-off for a single, respecting the hint of turn. Hassan cut off the back foot to cover, hesitated, then committed to the run. The throw came to the keeper’s end, Shai Hope broke the stumps, but Smith was home. A direct hit would have ended it; instead, the partnership breathed on.

The real shift arrived when Tahir tossed one up to Smith outside off at 84.3kph. It was overpitched, and Smith did not miss. He backed away and hammered it through extra cover, a clean, emphatic four that punctured the veteran leg-spinner’s control. That one stroke summed up the intent: no more surviving, only scoring.

Tahir tried to respond with more air and a fuller length. Smith met it with a wristy drive straight back past the bowler’s right hand, collecting a single to long-on and keeping the scoreboard ticking. Every run mattered now, every small victory in the mini-battles against spin adding up.

By the time that sequence ended, the numbers told one story: Nabi’s 4-0-25-1 and Pierre’s 2-21 from four were standout returns in a format that rarely forgives bowlers. The feel of the game told another. Hassan’s late six and Smith’s extra-cover rocket had dragged momentum back towards the batters, setting up a finish where one more over of clean hitting could tilt the entire contest.