Odean Smith and Hassan Khan Revive Innings with Late Surge
For a few overs, the chase had stalled. The fielders were chirping, the bowlers had their tails up, and every dot ball felt heavier than the last. Then Hassan Khan dropped to one knee and changed the mood.
Facing Khary Pierre in the 16th over, Hassan finally snapped the pressure. Pierre, who had been miserly all spell, went full on the stumps at 86kph. Hassan read it early, sank low and launched a clean slogsweep over deep midwicket. Seventy-two metres later, the ball landed in the stands and Pierre’s excellent figures – 2 for 21 off his four – suddenly carried the sting of a last-ball bruise.
That blow didn’t just add six runs. It loosened shoulders.
Hassan had already been busy against Pierre, nudging and hustling. Earlier in the over he’d inside-edged a full ball angling in for a couple, then cut with the spin past deep backward point for another brace. No fireworks then, but important strokes, the sort that keep an innings breathing when boundaries dry up.
At the other end, Odean Smith played the enforcer. He first had to survive a nervy moment against Mohammad Nabi. Smith pushed Nabi to long-off for a single, then watched as Hassan cut off the back foot to cover. A stutter in the running almost cost them: the throw came to Shai Hope, who whipped off the bails at the keeper’s end. Smith, though, had just made his ground. A direct hit and he was gone. Nabi walked off with tidy figures of 1 for 25 from his four, but he knew that chance might linger.
Once Nabi was done, the tempo shifted. Pierre went full and straight to Smith, who created room and delicately dinked him to long-off for a single. Not a headline shot, but it kept Smith on strike, kept the bowlers thinking.
Then came Imran Tahir.
The veteran leg-spinner floated one up at 84.3kph, overpitched outside off. Smith didn’t miss. He backed away, freed his arms and hammered it through extra cover for four, a shot that screamed authority. It was the kind of clean strike that tells a dressing room, “We’re still in this.”
Tahir tried to respond with more air and a fuller length. Smith adjusted, driving wristily to the right of the bowler and jogging a single to long-on. Not every ball had to disappear; control of the over mattered now.
Hassan kept playing his part. When Tahir served up a floated full toss on the pads at 79.5kph, Hassan dropped low for the sweep but miscued it, sending it only as far as midwicket. Even that brought a run. The scoreboard kept ticking.
Tahir attempted something different to finish the sequence, darting one just outside leg stump. Smith walked across, looking to help it fine, but missed. No run, just a cheeky smile from the batter, a small acknowledgment that he’d let one go.
By then, though, the tone of the innings had changed. The shackles Pierre had imposed were broken by Hassan’s bold slog, and Smith’s clean strike off Tahir had added another layer of intent. Singles, twos, the odd boundary – they weren’t just numbers. They were a statement that the chase, once under strain, now had fresh oxygen and two batters willing to push it deep.
