Pakistan became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup 2021 after beating Namibia by 45 runs in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
This was Pakistan’s fourth consecutive victory in the mega event after they had defeated India, New Zealand, and Afghanistan in their previous matches.
While chasing the target of 190, Namibia showed their ability and strength, and were 83-2 at one point in the run chase. However, Pakistan restricted the Namibian batters to 144-5 and collected the two points to move into the next round.
The Namibian side first lost an early wicket in the second over as Hasan Ali dismissed Michael van Lingen (4), and later, in the ninth over, Stephan Baard was run out for 29. In the 13th over, skipper Gerhard Erasmus was caught out (15) shortly after Shaheen Shah Afridi had dropped his catch in the previous over.
Craig Williams was caught out in the 14th over, but he played a decent innings as he scored 40 runs off 37 balls. Haris Rauf got the fifth Namibian man down as he was able to dismiss JJ Smit.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and captain Babar Azam and fellow opener Mohammad Rizwan scored half centuries to guide Pakistan to 189-2.
Babar made his 23rd T20I fifty with a 49-ball 70 while Rizwan finished with a 50-ball 79 not out. They added 113 for the first wicket before Mohammad Hafeez scored a brisk 16-ball 32 not out with five boundaries.
Babar hit seven boundaries in his innings while Rizwan smashed eight fours and four sixes.
The Pakistan team had not made any changes to the squad.
Teams:
Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Namibia: Stephen Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (captain), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green, Jan Frylinck, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz.
