Babar Azam and his Pakistan team have been on a roll since the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 got underway last month. After their fourth win on the trot – the latest one over Namibia on Tuesday (November 2) – Pakistan have stormed into the semifinal ahead of India, New Zealand and Afghanistan from Group 2.
Skipper Babar has also been in sizzling form with the bat, scoring 198 runs in four matches with three fifties at an average of over 66 and strike-rate of 124.5. With his third fifty of the tournament against Namibia, Babar became the first captain to score three fifties in a single T20 World Cup campaign ahead of the likes of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.
In Pakistan’s opening game of the tournament against India, Babar scored an unbeaten 68 as he and fellow opener Mohammad Rizwan helped their team secure a 10-wicket win over Kohli’s side. It was also Pakistan’s first win against India in a World Cup match – in T20 or 50-over format.
Babar once again crossed the 50-run mark against Afghanistan in their third match – scoring 51 to help his side chase down a 148-run target. On Tuesday, Babar smashed 70 against Namibia and ensured a 45-run win to book his side’s berth in the semifinal.
Meawhile, the Pakistan skipper said he wanted to test their batting and it all worked as they ticked the boxes going ahead. “It was a different plan today, wanted that opening partnership to go deep and it worked for us. Two good players in Hafeez and Hasan Ali, they'll be important in the next stage and it was important we ticked those boxes.
“There was some dew that didn't help with the fielding, but that’s not an excuse, we need to be better. Everything has gone according to plan, we’re looking forward to the semi-finals and playing our cricket with the same intensity,” Babar Azam said.
Namibian skipper Gerhard Erasmus said they were well aware of Pakistan’s strengths. “We knew from the start that Pakistan are 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. Pakistan were outstanding with their shot selection and their quality showed through the back end of the innings.”
