SHARJAH: Pakistan on Sunday beat Scotland by 72 runs as the Babar Azam-led squad confined the opposing team to 117 runs at the loss of 6 wickets at the end of the 20th over.
Pakistan remained unbeaten to top the group-2 and has set up its semi-final against Australia on November 11. Playing first, Pakistan had set a 190-run target for the Scottish team.
Scotland openers George Munsey and Kyle Coetzer proved to be tough nuts to crack for Pakistan’s star bowlers as they held on despite a barrage of bouncers delivered by Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Hassan Ali was able to dent the Scottish armour though with a piercing delivery that hit the off stump at 5.3 overs, dismissing Coetzer.
Next to go was Matthew Cross, run out by Imad Wasim at 7.6 overs.
Shadab struck in the 11th over to claim George Munsey and Dylan Budge’s scalps.
Michael Leask was the next one to be sent back to the pavilion as he was bowled by Shaheen Afridi after scoring 14 runs.
Meanwhile, Chris Greaves was bowled by Haris Rauf in the second ball of the 19th over, leaving the Scottish team confined to 114 runs at the loss of 6 wickets.  The team managed to score three more runs in the remaining over to make a total of 117 runs.
Heroics by Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam:Â
Earlier, Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik propelled his team to a lofty 189-run total.
The former skipper’s blitz of boundaries proved instrumental for the Men in Green after captain Babar Azam’s campaign came to an end at 17.3 overs.
Babar scored 66 off 47 balls, his fourth 50 in the tournament so far, mar Shoaib Malik, on the other hand, scored 58 off 18 — the fastest 50 in Pakistan men’s T20I history.
Scotland first drew blood against Pakistan by dismissing opener Muhammad Rizwan at 6.1 overs. That followed by Fakhar Zaman being sent back to the pavilion at 9.4 overs. The third man to go was Muhammad Hafeez, at 14.6 overs.
The Men in Green won the toss and opted to bat first.
The star duo of skipper Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan opened the game for the side.
Rizwan was replaced by Fakhar Zaman, who was then replaced by Muhammad Hafeez, who in turn was replaced by Shoaib Malik.
With four men down, Pakistan looked to Malik and Asif Ali to give the side a defensible total.
Pakistan are unchanged, while Scotland have two changes: Macleod, Evans out; Tahir, Budge in, ESPN Cricinfo reported.
“We want to bat first, put a total and put pressure on them. We are not complacent. We are looking to carry on with our momentum. The same team,” said Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said after he won the toss.
“People back home love cricket a lot and they are supporting us. We are trying to make them happy with our performances,” he added.
Meanwhile, Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer said: “We’ve been looking forward to these games and we’ll be going out there today to give our best. We have to test ourselves against the best.”
“Coming into the tournament, we came in believing that we are capable of competing against the best and we’ll still believe that. But we have to go through these kinds of tests. Hopefully, in our journey we’ve inspired a few people in Scotland and around the world too,” he added.
