Pakistan’s perfect run continued as they picked up their fourth win of the T20 World Cup on Tuesday. With that, they also became the first team to book a place in the semi-finals of the tournament.

India, New Zealand and Afghanistan had failed to cross the Pakistan hurdle in the previous matches and there was little chance that tournament debutants Namibia would fare any better. In the end, the story unfolded as per the script with Pakistan beating the African team by 45 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Unlike in their previous games, on this occasion Pakistan batted first after winning the toss. They wanted to test how the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Imad Wasim handle the dew-wet ball.

Most of the bowlers performed well, barring Shaheen, who lacked a bit of discipline, conceding 36 off his four overs and going wicketless.

However, that didn’t hurt Pakistan as courtesy splendid knocks from captain Babar Azam (70) and his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan (79 not out), they had posted a formidable total of 189/2. It was too tall a mountain for the Namibians to climb.

Namibia, though, didn’t fare too badly with the bat, finishing at 144/5, with Pakistan’s below-par ground fielding also helping them.

Babar and Rizwan were once again the stars for

Pakistan. A tad circumspect early on, they took time to settle down and once they

were set, run-scoring looked all too easy.

Babar was the main aggressor of the two, scoring his third half-century in the competition as Pakistan’s opening pair put on 113 within 15 overs before the skipper departed off David Wiese’s bowling. Babar’s departure hardly had any effect on Rizwan, who continued in the same flow.

With veteran Mohammad Hafeez (32 not out) giving him solid support at the other end, Rizwan unleashed a flurry

of strokes at the death, particularly in the final over of Pakistan’s innings that yielded them 24. Rizwan alone smashed JJ Smit for four boundaries and a maximum.

“The Namibia bowlers did well early on, so our plan was to take it deep and get runs at the back end,” Rizwan, adjudged Man of the Match, said at the post-match presentation.

“We have ticked all the boxes, so I do believe we’re in with a fighting chance (to win the tournament),” he added.