New Delhi: Pakistan defeated Namibia by 45 runs in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup on Tuesday to secure a berth in the semi-finals. After England, Pakistan is the second team to make it to the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Batting first in this match, Pakistan had given a big target of 190 runs to Namibia, in reply to which Namibia's team could score only 144 runs in the stipulated 20 overs after losing 5 wickets. The hero of Pakistan's victory was Mohammad Rizwan and captain Babar Azam. Rizwan played an unbeaten 79-run knock, while Babar contributed with 70 runs.
After winning the toss, Pakistan decided to bat first. Openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam gave Pakistan a very strong start. Babar played a captain's knock of 70 runs. On the other hand, Mohammad Rizwan played an unbeaten innings of 79 runs. Fakhar Zaman could contribute only 5 runs in this match. Mohammad Hafeez remained not out for 32. For Namibia, Jan Freelink and David Wiese bagged one wicket apiece.
Chasing the target of 190 runs, Namibia did not have a good start and Van Lingen was dismissed after scoring 4 runs. After this, Namibia's second wicket fell for 55 runs. David Wiese played an unbeaten 43 runs for Namibia. Apart from him, Craig Williams contributed 40 runs and Stephen Bard contributed 29 runs. Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan took one wicket each for Pakistan
Pakistan playing XI: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi
Namibia playing XI: Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green (wk), Jan Frylinck, Ben Shikongo