Skipper Babar Azam scored 70 while his inaugural partner Mohammed Rizwan scored an unbeaten 79 in a Super 12 game of the ICC T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi when Pakistan beat Namibia by 45 runs.
While Babar hit seven fours in his 48-ball knock, Rizwan hit eight fours and four maxs in 50 balls. With the victory, the Pakistani team consolidated their place in the semifinals.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan produced another over a century opening booth when Pakistan exploded in the rear end, scoring 189-2 against Namibia.
In response, Namibia could only score 144 for 5 runs in 20 overs. Namibia’s rackets showed great courage against an impressive bowling line-up from Pakistan.
For Namibia, Criag Williams (40 of 37b; 5×4, 1×6), Stephan Baard (29 of 29b; 1×4, 1×6) and David Wiese (43 of 31b; 3×4, 2×6) were the notable run-getters.
Hasan Ali (1/22), Imad Wasim (1/13), Shadab Khan (1/35) and Haris Rauf (1/25) chipped for Pakistan with one wicket each.
Previously, captain Babar led from the front with a classic 49-ball-70 when he took the early initiative, although Rizwan struggled to get going early on.
But the Pakistani wicketkeeper batter, seeing an LBW decision overturned while standing on two out of 11 balls, turned it around in style to smash an unbeaten 79 out of 59 balls. His knock was littered with eight fours and four sixes, while Babar found the fence seven times.
Fighting to find time, Rizwan took command of Namibia’s best bowler, Ruben Trumpelmann, and stepped out to long beat him. After that there was no turning back from him.
From 59 without a loss at halftime, the Babar-Rizwan duo played with the Namibian attack, posting a 113-run opening score – the first pair to do so five times in T20 Internationals.
Babar and Rizwan were also the first couple to pool 1000 T20I runs in a calendar year as Pakistan accelerated in style.
Mohammad Hafeez also returned with a sensational cameo of 32 out of 16 balls (5×4) as Pakistan scored 71 runs from the last five overs.
एक टिप्पणी भेजें