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Welcome to Wisden’s match bloge for the live coverage of the Pakistan v Namibia T20 World Cup 2021 fixture – follow this space for live updates in Abu Dhabi, including commentary and score, along with where to watch details: TV channels, broadcast and live streaming for Pak vs Nam.

Pakistan vs Namibia: Live scorecard and stats

Toss update: Pakistan have 189 on board

Some big games tomorrow with New Zealand taking on Scotland and India taking on Afghanistan while still in search of an elusive first win. That second game could be decisive for this group. That’s all from here today, folks.

Pakistan win by 45 runs

Pakistan seal a comfortable win, which might have been even more bigger if not for a 16-run final over by Shaheen Afridi. The win itself was never in question really after the Pakistan innings despite a promising showing from Namibia’s batters. The story for Namibia would be their excellent boowling effort early on. If only a couple of close shouts, missed edges had gone theiir way early, things might have probably turned out differently. They will take heart from their showing in the tournament so far, though. Mighty impressive side and they have shown their quality. For Pakistan, it is a place in the semi-finals confirmed as they become the first team to officially book their place in the final four.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over 17: Nam 111-5 – The extremes of Haris Rauf

Rauf’s so pacy that the slower ones cna be really tricky to negotiate. He duped JJ Smit with one really clever slow ball and then hit full throttle to smash David Wiese on the helmet next ball. Rauf is a very interesting T20 bowler with a very bumpy career so far, but he’s really turned up here in the T20 World Cup. With Hasan Ali not in the greatest form, Pakistan really needed Rauf to be on fire, and he has delivered so far.

Over 14: Nam 93-4: Shadab gets rid of the set Williams

Namibia lose one more as the well-set Williams slogs out off Shadab’s final ball in his spell. It’s down to the all-rounders entirely now. Wiese and Smit, with the former being the only Namibian player to get taste of Pakistan bowlers before this World Cup, mainly at the PSL of course.

Update: Imad gets rid of Erasmus. The left-arm spinner has been the best Pakistan bowler on show today and he is rewarded with a wicket. Over to Wiese and Co.

Over 12: Nam 78-2 – Erasmus living up to his reputation, but Namibia need more

Erasmus has teed off here with some big shots. One of those went so high that Shaheen Afridi missed the catch completely. Namibia are slowly turning up the ante. Williams also showed good intent in that last over. With Wiese and Smit to come in, it should be fun. It would still take something to make a match out of this.

Erasmus and the broken finger

Erasmus is the heart and soul of Namibia cricket. He is here with a broken finger (that got a tap on off his first ball today) that he suffered in the warm-up matches. The report from the medical team initially told him to return home for an operation. He, however, chose to stay on with the medical team managing his finger on an adhoc basis. Make no mistake, he isn’t just making it to the team for his leadership. That broken finger didn’t stop him from making a 53* against Ireland in the first round. Inspirational player!

Update: A run out sees the back of Stephen Baard. Now for some fun. Surely, Erasmus in next?

Over 8: Nam 45-1 – Unleash the ‘bomb squad’ already

The teams are just going through the motions here, just like Pakistan did in the first innings. Namibia need something special here and that can come from one of their “bomb squad” members. Head coach Pierre de Bruyn, former Leicestershire coach, called the middle-order of Gerhard Erasmus, David Wiese and JJ Smit as the “bomb squad” pre-tournament due to their explosive batting capabilities. Time for one of them.

Update: Stephen Baard just played a blinder of a flick for six off Haris Rauf and Namibia end with a decent powerplay (34-1).

Over 5: Nam 24-1 – Namibia take it slow

Namibia have actually done what Pakistan did upfront. They arguably bowled better than Pakistan have done here too, but Pakistan seem to be taking this like a workout. They pushed Hasan Ali to open the bowling and gave Hafeez some good time in the middle. They are in hurry to wrap this up.

Over 2: Nam 8-1 – Hasan Ali finds the first breakthrough

Namibia survive the Shaheen over, but Hasan gets one early, cleaning up Michael van Lingen in his first over. He badly needs to find form this tournament, and hopefully a few wickets here would do the trick. A big tournament needs a fired up Hasan Ali, please.

Namibia’s reputation

The highest ranked Namibia batter in the ICC T20I batting rankings is skipper Gerhard Erasmus at 37. There’s no one else in the top 50. Tehey do have some reputed big hitters in the batting group. In August this year when they played a Zimbabwe Emerging side in a few unofficial games, Zane Green smashed an 81* off 47 balls in one game. JJ Smit, their most fearsome hitter, hit a 29-ball 93* with 10 sixes in another. It will take some doing to do it against this Pakistan bowling attack.

End of innings: Pak 189-2 – Five boundaries in the final over

Outrageous finish and that’s what Rizwan does late in the innings after slow starts. Pakistan have smashed 54 runs in the last four overs to put up a really tall total. It’s odd to see Rizwan out there still at the end of that innings, after looking completely out of sorts early. Rizwan completely turned it around in the last few overs with some big hits. Five boundaries in that final over and off his last nine balls, he has 31 runs!

Over 18: Pak 155-2  – Hafeez on fire

Why send a pinch-hitter when I can smash and scoop it, asks Hafeez in those two overs. He’s raced to 29 in 13 balls (Rizwan is still on 48 by the way) and Pakistan have started the final flourish. That’s a brilliant cameo from The Professor. He also gets some much-needed time in the middle. Win-win for the next few matches.

Over 16: Pak 127-2 – Where are the big hitters?

Fakhar Zaman is just gone, to a stunning take from Zane Green the keeper, but Pakistan are just sticking to the same batting order. Really bizarre unless they are just trying to give these senior guys some practice ahead of bigger games. Really thought we’d see Asif Ali or Imad at the very least here.

Update: Babar Azam has holed out (yes holed out) and some words by David Wiese as he walks back. Wow, Namibia are still fired up for this one after that slow drag from the openers.

Over 14: Pak 109-0 – Babar and Rizwan put ona  century stand…again

• Five century stands in 2021, three of them above 150
• 1,000 partnerships runs in 2021 – the first time a pair of batters have done that in a year in T20Is
• Most fifty-plus partnerships in a year (7)

Absolute scenes

The keeper looked to run Rizwan out and throws one straight at his back, but that’s not the serious part. It defelcts off him to hit Loftie-Eaton flush on the face.

Over 12: Pak 89-0 – Fifty for Babar

This is not even an update. It’s become that customary to see a fifty against Babar’s name. He has 15 fifties, and a hundred, since the start of 2019 in T20Is, the most by any player. Meanwhile, Trumpelmann’s perfect figures of 0/2 after 2 overs is messed up by that 17-run over.

Over 10: Pak 59-0 – A pinch hitter next?

This is a super slow start for Rizwan and it’s not like he hasn’t tried to break the shackles. It just hasn’t come off for him today so far. I sense a wicket coming soon, and if so Pakistan would probably want to promote Asif Ali given the form he is in and the run rate they are going at. A Hasan Ali (very underrated hitter) would be a good choice too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best batting averages as openers in T20Is (min 20 innings) 

Mohammad Rizwan – 76.92

Jos Buttler – 60.50

Babar Azam – 47.21

Mahela Jayawardene – 40.60

*Stats from before today

Over 8: Pak 45-0 – Still slow going

Babar and Rizwan can sometimes be really frustarting to watch and this is another of those days when they get the job done, but you really hope they’d just go all out and attack. One of these two should up the gears soon. It’s likely Rizwan, but he has had quite an off day by his usual standards. He averages over 75 as an opener in this format in international cricket, and that’s ridiculously good. The average was built focusing on wicket preservation first and then attacking. The first part is done. We should have some fun soon.

A good powerplay for Namibia, but..

Namibia would have still wanted a wicket in the powerplay, but they were really unlucky to not get Rizwan. The wicketkeeper batter has looked out of sync so far. He has played and missed at a few, and then hit his shots to the fielders. It is quite odd to see Pakistan stifled by a string of left-arm quicks. That’s exactly what has happened here, but Babar and Rizwan are still on and we know how they turn it on once they are settled down.

Over 5: Pak 23-0 – Rizwan nearly trapped in front

This kind of dismissal was really on the cards. Rizwan looked uncomfortable from the word go and took seven balls to get off the mark. He wasn’t getting behind the line well even as Babar creamed his shots from the other end. This one from JJ Smit was perfect – full, angling in and swinging in. Rizwan missed and was struck in front and the umpire upheld the call, but Pakistan overturn it. Babar – Rizwan treatment continues for Namibia.

Over 3: Pak 6-0 – Solid start from Namibia

Babar was in a spot of both with one that came into him. Rizwan looked a bit ruffled the over before that against David Wiese. The ball is moving around and Pakistan are trying to see through this early period. Their openers thrive on survival early and attacking later, but Namibia’s bowlers have looked very threatening. That said, it is strange they are backing Wiese with the new ball, when he is more ideal in the middle and death overs.

Over 1: 0-0 – Outstanding over from Ruben Trumpelmann

A terrific first over from Trumpelmann. It’s a maiden and he had Rizwan squared up a couple of times there. It was a tad surprising to see Pakistan batting first here, especially given that they don’t have too much NRR concerns. Given how that over went, Namibia will be very encouraged.

The Namibians are quite animated in the middle as they walk in. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, the dreaded T20 opening pair, walks out for Pakistan. Ruben Trumpelmann, fresh off taking three wickets in the opening over last game, takes the new ball.

Namibia’s record in 2021

Namibia come into this game with nine wins out of 11 matches in 2021.  That’s no record to be scoffed at, especially given the manner in which they beat Scotland. That new ball attack could be worth punting on.

Playing XIs

Namibia: Stephan Baard, Michael van Lingen, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (c), Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Zane Green (wk), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Ruben Trumpelmann, Ben Shikongo

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi

Pakistan have opted to bat first. Babar Azam is playing the same team.

Match time: 6pm local time

Date: November 2, 2021

Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Malik hails Pakistan’s ability to deal with pressure

“I guess momentum and everything has come to us when we played that game,” Malik said in the pre-match presser. “Obviously, when you start the tournament, the goal is to give your best shot as a team. But since I’ve joined the team, I’ve seen Pakistan teams practise sessions and the way they have been dealing with pressure from the world until now, it’s been exceptionally well.”

Pierre de Bruyn summarises Namibia’s remarkable rise

“I believe that skill-wise this group of players have a lot of white-ball skills. It didn’t fall out of the sky. The last two and a half, three years we’ve worked extremely hard as a unit to improve our skills in all our skill sets, bowlers, batters. There was a year of lockdown. We didn’t have the opportunity to train together, but we still managed to train. We trained indoors. We trained on our patios, in our lounges at home. We shared the videos. We did live stuff.

We believed, and I always believed as a coach that the only way for us to compete is to upscale ourselves in all departments.

There’s one thing playing passionate cricket with heart and this streetfighter mentality, but this game comes down to skills, and we need to continue improving our skills.”

Pakistan are all but through to the semi-finals stage, sitting atop Group 2 with six points. Namibia, meanwhile, have impressed in their T20 World Cup campaign so far, but will find the going tough against stronger opponents. They have two points in two games, at a net run rate of -1.287

Pakistan: Team news and predicted XI

All the Pakistan players have looked fit and raring to go, and have given their best in the group stages so far. They are expected to play their strongest XI.

Predicted playing XI: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

T20 World Cup 2021 Pakistan squad: Full team list for Pak

Namibia: Team news and predicted XI

Namibia were spirited in their effort against Afghanistan, but could not avoid a crushing defeat by 62 runs. They would look to give a better performance against Pakistan.

Predicted playing XI: Craig Williams, Michael van Lingen, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), Zane Green (wk), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Pikky Ya France, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz

T20 World Cup 2021 Namibia squad: Full team list for Nam

T20 World Cup 2021 Pakistan v Namibia: Where to watch live

India: Star Sports Network: Star Sports 1 (and HD), Star Sports 2 (and HD), Star Sports 1 Hindi (and HD), Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu and Star Sports 1 Kannada
Start time 7.30 pm (IST)

UK & Ireland: Sky Sports Cricket, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Mix; Sky Sports app, www.skysports.com

Start time 3 pm (BST)

Pakistan: PTV Sports, Asports; Daraz app/www.daraz.pk

Start time 7 pm (PKT)

The complete list of broadcast (TV and live streaming) options for the tournament can be found here.

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