How Thursday became Matthew Wade's night out in Dubai

World Cup semi-final hero Matthew Wade played the match against Pakistan thinking it could be his final international game.

After channeling Mike Hussey's heroics in 2010 in spearheading a remarkable late comeback to put Australia into the T20 World Cup final, Wade may well have secured a long-term spot in the T20 side that he admits he has never quite cemented, report agencies.

Set up by a nerveless knock from Marcus Stoinis, the 33-year-old made Pakistan pay after Hasan Ali dropped him on the boundary to leave the Aussies needing 18 to win off the final nine balls of the innings.

Wade took just three deliveries, slamming three successive sixes off this tournament's most incisive and exciting bowler, Shaheen Shah Afridi, in a breathtaking sequence that put his side into the final of a T20 World Cup for just the second time.

On most other nights, it would've been a match-winning return. However, Thursday would be Wade's night out in Dubai.

Australia's Glenn Maxwell's reverse-sweep off Pakistan's Shadab Khan lands in the hands of Pakistan's Haris Rauf as Australia fall to 96 for 5 in the 13th over during their pursuit of 177.

Matthew Wade came to bat. His first ball was from Shadab, which he defends. Shadab ends his spell with 4-0-26-4 - the best-ever figures in a T20 World Cup semi-final.

When Rauf errs in length and overpitches in the 14th over, Wade pumps it flat and straight over the bowler's head. In the next over, though, Shaheen Shah Afridi digs the ball into the pitch to keep Wade honest. He is on eight off nine balls; Australia need 50 off 24 to make the T20 World Cup final.

With the dew becoming a bigger factor in Dubai, most teams back themselves to hunt it down, especially with five wickets in hand. But then again, Wade and Marcus Stoinis are the last recognised batting pair for Australia, and neither are recognised as bonafide finishers. Wade and Stoinis are new-ball bashers at the top in the BBL for Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars respectively.

Since the start of 2018, Wade hit 1167 runs in 29 innings as an opener in the league at an average of 43.22 and strike rate of 158.34.

Only Jake Weatherald, Stoinis and D'Arcy Short have scored more runs than Wade during this period, but they've all had the benefit of playing more innings than Wade.

Even in Australia's lead-up to the T20 World Cup, Wade had opened in New Zealand and West Indies, when David Warner was unavailable. Then, when Aaron Finch, the regular white-ball captain, missed the Bangladesh tour with injury, Wade even filled in as stand-in-captain and opening batter.

However, Wade had a disastrous tour of West Indies and Bangladesh, managing only 129 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 113.15. The conditions in Bangladesh, in particular, were fiendishly difficult for batting as the entire Australia line-up came a cropper there.