(Cricket news) Pakistan’s openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were at their dominant best with the pair sharing an opening partnership of 113 runs to record a fifth century stand by any opening pair in T20 internationals. Azam scored 70 runs off 49 balls while Rizwan scored 79 runs off 50 balls in Abu Dhabi to guide Pakistan to an overall score of 189/2 in 20 overs.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat with Azam and Rizwan failing to hit the ground running as Ruben Trumpelmann bowled economically in the powerplay. The left arm seamer had a maiden in the first over and only conceded 2 runs in his second over, continuing the fantastic form he displayed against Scotland where he took three wickets in his first four balls. Trumpelmann’s bowling was so impressive that it was only until the 12th over when Mohammad Rizwan finally hit a six off his ball.

Babar Azam scored his half century in 39 balls but was eventually dismissed for 70 after being caught by Jan Frylinck at deep mid-wicket from a David Wiese delivery. Fakhar Zaman was dismissed for just 5 runs in 5 balls as Namibia wicketkeeper Zane Green took an excellent left handed catch. However, Mohammad Hafeez’s 32 runs off 16 balls helped Pakistan maintain their momentum as they scored 62 runs in the last four overs.

Namibia got off to a poor start as Michael van Lingen was dismissed by Hasan Ali for just 4 runs in two balls. The partnership between Stephan Baard (29 runs from 29) and Craig Williams (40 runs off 37) gave some much needed momentum until Baard was run out due to a mix up. Namibia’s captain Gerhard Erasmus scored 15 runs off 10 balls despite playing with a broken finger but was caught by Shadab Khan from Imad Wasim’s delivery. When Williams was dismissed, it all but ended Namibia’s slim chance of victory despite David Wiese scoring 43 runs off 31 balls.

With Pakistan already in the semi-finals, New Zealand will be hoping to secure their place amongst the final 4 with a win over Scotland while India will take on Afghanistan, desperately hoping for the stars to align in their favor. 

Also read: Struggled early, but plan was to take it deep: Rizwan