Abu Dhabi, Nov 2: Opener Mohammad Rizwan continued his scintillating form with a blistering 79 as a thoroughly professional Pakistan stormed into the semifinals of the T20 World Cup with a 45-run thrashing of Namibia here on Tuesday.
From scoring only 12 runs in his first 21 balls, the wicketkeeper-batter smashed 67 in the next 29 deliveries, as Pakistan pummelled 130 runs in the back-10 to set a daunting target of 190 for the tournament debutants.
Rizwan’s 50-ball knock contained four sixes and eight fours, while his skipper Babar Azam soaked up the early pressure with a classy 70 from 49 deliveries in a record-breaking 113-run opening stand.
Babar and Rizwan became the first opening pair to post five century-plus partnerships, bettering the Indian duo Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan’s tally of four. The pair also became the first to aggregate 1000-plus T20I runs (1041) in a calendar year.
In reply, Namibia were restricted to 144 for five with David Wiese making 43 from 31-balls and Craig Williams scoring 40. (PTI)
