Web Desk, Abu Dhabi,
Pakistan qualify for semi-finals after beating Namibia by 45 runs in T20 World Cup fourth match at Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Stadium .
Earlier, skipper Babar Azam and fellow opener Mohammad Rizwan hit 50 to guide Pakistan to 189-2 in their T20 World Cup Super-12 match against Namibia.
Babar scored 23rd T20 international fifty with a 49-ball on 70 runs while Rizwan finished with a 50-ball 79 not out after Pakistan won the toss and batted first on Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch.
The pair added 113 for the first wicket after Pakistan were slow out, scoring just 59 in the first ten overs but ended with a burst in the next ten, taking 130 runs.
Veteran Mohammad Hafeez scored a sharp 16-ball for 32 not out including five boundaries.
Pakistan’s total is the second-highest in tournament, behind Afghanistan’s 190-4 against Scotland in Sharjah.
Pakistan top Group 1 with three wins in as many games and a victory here will see them become the first team to qualify for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile Pakistan’s opening partners Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan got several T20I records during their T20 World Cup match against Namibia.
The records include most century partnerships ever, most runs as batting partners in a calendar year, most T20I runs by in a calendar year, most scores of 50 or more in T20Is a captain and most runs after first 60 innings of a player’s career in T20Is.
Babar and Rizwan scored 113 runs for the first wicket partnership against Namibia, their 5th century-stand as batting partners the most by any batting partners ever in the shortest format of the game.
The Pakistani openers also became the first ever batting partners in the world to amass 1,000 partnership runs in a calendar year. They’ve scored 1,041 runs this year in 17 partnerships.
