Pakistan put the cherry on the cake to their Super 12 campaign in the T20 World Cup, winning their fifth and final Group 2 game over Scotland on Sunday in Sharjah. With their resounding 72-run victory, the Asian giants topped the standings in their group and set up a semi-final clash with Australia on Thursday in Dubai.
Excellent half-centuries from skipper Babar Azam (66) and veteran middle-order batter Shoaib Malik (54*) took Pakistan to a giant score of 189/4 in their 20 overs after winning the toss and opting to bat first.
Pakistan got decent preparation in the first half for a potential bat-first situation in the knock-outs, with Babar and Malik leading the way. Babar played another of his sedate but significant knocks at the top of the order, while Malik blasted his way through an unbeaten half-century.
Malik’s was, in fact, the quickest ever T20I half-century by a Pakistan batter and eighth quickest of all time. He feasted on the inexperienced Scotland attack and struck six sixes to take Pakistan near the 200-mark.
Apart from Babar and Malik, Mohammad Hafeez (31) also played a good knock for his team.
Left-arm spinner Mark Watt (0/41) had his first poor outing of the tournament, and that meant Scotland were never in any sort of control with the ball. Chris Greaves took two wickets, but they cost 42 runs. Hamza Tahir (1/24) was the only bowler to end with respectable figures.
In the second half also, only one of the Scottish players came out of the game with his reputation enhanced. Richie Berrington scored a fine half-century (54 off 37 balls) against a robust Pakistan attack, with his impressive knock featuring four fours and a maximum. But sadly for Scotland, Berrington was the only batter to go past the 20-run mark.
Shadab Khan (2/14), Shaheen Afridi (1/24) and Imad Wasim (0/17) were the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan.
Brief scores
Pakistan 189/4 in 20 overs (Azam 66, Malik 54*; Greaves 2/43) beat Scotland 117/6 in 20 overs (Berrington 54; Khan 2/14, Afridi 1/24) by 72 runs
