Pakistan coasted to the finals of the ICC U19 World Cup when they beat the West Indies by four wickets on Monday.
The senior team is under the hammer in across the Tasman Sea but the U19 boys made Pakistan proud with a clinical display in New Zealand.
Hammad Azam was the torchbearer of a splendid performance in a semi-final that went as close as it could have.
Chasing 213 to book a place in the final, Pakistan, who knocked arch rivals and defending champions India in the quarters got off to a shocker in their reply.
Jason Holder had reduced Pakistan to nine for two, getting rid of openers Ahmad Shahzad and Muhammad Babar by the fifth over.
Skipper Azeem Ghumman was done in by Nelson Bolan and it looked like the West Indies had a firm foot on the path to the title clash.
By the 20th over, Pakistan were in all sorts of trouble- reduced to 49 for four- and with Ahsan Ali (28) back in the hut, the writing was on the wall for the sub-continental side.
It was then that Azam came to the party with Rameez Aziz. The duo stitched 90 runs for the fifth wicket before Aziz failed to make his ground and perished for a solid 39 off 81 balls.
However, Azam had settled in by then and with wicketkeeper batsman Muhammad Waqas (29 off 23 balls) added another 67 runs.
Azam finished with an unbeaten 92 off 93 in a knock punctuated by 10 hits to the fence, an effort which won him the Man of the Match award.
Earlier, the West Indies were in trouble after being put into bat by Pakistan.
Sarmaad Bhatti, who returned impressive figures of two for 37, had jolted the Caribbean colts, reducing them to seven for two at one stage.
The West Indies needed a fabulous counterattack from opener Kraigg Brathwaite (85) and some gutsy batting from skipper Andre Creary (41 off 79) and a whirlwind 55 off 49 deliveries from Shane Dowrich to give some semblance of respectability to the Windies score.
Pakistan will now await the winner of the second semi-final to know who they clash with to become the second Asian country in two years to win the ICC U19 World Cup.
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