Naseem Shah credited self-belief and practice sessions in the nets for his final-over heroics against Afghanistan that guided Pakistan to victory at the Asia Cup match on Wednesday.
Naseem struck two consecutive sixes in the last over of the game to help his side beat Afghanistan and qualify for the final.
The 22-year-old who has already impressed with his fast bowling in the tournament changed roles on Wednesday as his two stunning sealed Pakistan's place in the final and threw arch-rivals India out of the tournament.
"When I went in to bat I had the belief to hit the sixes. I practice (hitting sixes) and I knew they would bowl yorkers as they had the field up. I just tried and I executed," Naseem said after the match.
"We need to have the belief, that we can hit, we keep practicing in the nets and I also changed my bat, it worked.
"When you lose the ninth wicket, no one expects you to win, but I had a belief that I can. I practice hitting a lot. This will be a memorable game for me. Everyone's forgotten I am a bowler."
Pakistan needed 11 from the final over and Naseem decided to take it upon himself and finish off the match.
"Asif was batting when I came in and my job was to give him strike but when he got out, I thought it was all on me."
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said he was reminded of batting great Javed Miandad hitting that famous last ball six off Chetan Sharma to beat India in Sharjah in 1986. Azam wasn't even born when Miandad's heroics helped Pakistan clinch the Austral-Asia Cup.
"I was in the dressing room (during last over). But in the back of my mind, I thought it is cricket, and I have seen Naseem bat like this, so I had a little bit of belief.
"This reminded me of Javed Miandad's six in Sharjah," he said.
"To be honest, it was quite a tense environment in the dressing room. We couldn't build partnerships like the last few games, but the way Naseem finished it, you could see the mahaul (vibe) after that."
Pakistan is set to play Sri Lanka in the summit clash on Sunday.
(Inputs from PTI)
