Pakistan top four batters tore through the Namibia bowling line-up to record a massive 189 runs for two (189/2) in their 20 overs in their Eagles third Super 12 game on Tuesday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan completed a 45 run victory over Namibia, who had scored 144/5 to suffer their second Super 12 defeat at the ongoing Twenty 20 (T20) World Cup.
Namibia started off well, restricting Pakistan to only 29 runs in the Power Play (first six overs) phase of the match.
However, the experienced Pakistan openers Mohammad Rizwan and captain Babar Azam soon found their rhythm in the middle overs to pile up the runs, with Rizwan managing a massive 79 not out from 50 deliveries and Azam knocking 70 from 49 balls.
Azam was caught by David Wiese off the bowling of Jan Frylinck, while Fakhar Zaman was out for five runs from five balls off the bowling off Zane Green.
Namibia started their run chase well, hitting 34/1 after Micheal van Lingen was bowled out by Hasan Ali for four runs off two balls.
Craig Williams and Steven Baard steadied the ship and managed to put in a decent partnership before Baard was run out attempting to go for a second run.
The wickets started falling off on a regular basis as Namibian batsmen failed to deal with Pakistan’s spin attack.
Captain Gerhard Erasmus said the math against Pakistan was always going to be tough as they are the favourites to win the tournament.
“We spoke about competing for longer and being better for longer wickets. I thought our opponents were outstanding with their shots after the 11th over and their quality showed. We play New Zealand next and that will not be an easy game either, but it will be great exposure for most of our players,” he said.
He hoped that the exposure will give them confidence and make them a more competitive team.
Namibia now sits in the third position, with two points above India and Scotland, while Pakistan leads the group on eight points from four matches ahead of Afghanistan, who have four points from three matches.
New Zealand is in third place with two points from two matches.
Pakistan’s victory saw them qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup for the seventh time.
Rizwan was named the man of the match.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
