ABU DHABI – Pakistan have defeated Namibia by 45 runs, guaranteeing their qualification for the semi-finals at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
Pakistan set a 189-2 and restricted Namibia to 144 in the Group 2 clash played in Abu Dhabi.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and went against the tournament trend by opting to bat first against Namibia.
Babar Azam’s dominant Pakistan side have won three from three to lead the group ahead of Afghanistan and New Zealand.
And victory over Namibia would seal one of the top two spots in the Super 12 group, with one game against Scotland still to play.
Namibia, featuring in their first-ever men’s T20I World Cup, did superbly to make it through Round 1 before beating Scotland to record a famous Super 12 win.
But victory against a major test-playing nation would cap off a fine tournament for the African outfit, who possess a fine pace attack and some dangerous middle-order hitters.
Squads
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi.
Namibia: Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Zane Green (wk), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Ruben Trumpelmann, Ben Shikongo.
