Daily Times

Pakistan became the first team to reach the Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals after beating Namibia by 45 runs, with brilliant half centuries from Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Rizwan finished with a slow-to-fast 50-ball 79 not out while Babar notched his 23rd Twenty20 international fifty with a 49-ball 70 to lift Pakistan — who won the toss and batted — to 189-2 in their 20 overs.

Namibia tried their best to match their opponents, with David Wiese notching 43 not out and Craig Williams scoring 40, but Pakistani bowlers never allowed them a free hand as they managed 144-5 in 20 overs.

With four wins in as many games, Pakistan became the first side to reach the last four from Group 2. This will be their fifth semi-final in Twenty20 World Cup history — the most by any team. Williams knocked five boundaries and a six before he holed out to spinner Shadab Khan while Wiese smashed two sixes and three boundaries in his 31-ball knock.

Opener Stephan Baard scored 29.

Babar said Pakistan went with a different plan, batting first. “It was a different plan today, wanted that opening partnership to go deep and it worked for us,” said Babar. “Rizwan was superb in the final few overs.

Pakistan skipper was confident his team will keep the winning momentum.

“Everything has gone according to plan, we’re looking forward to the semi-finals and playing our cricket with the same intensity.”

Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus admitted his side was outplayed.

“We knew from the start that Pakistan are of high quality, they look like title contenders, we knew we’d have to compete hard and I thought we did that for quite a while but in the end it was not enough,” said Erasmus.