T20 World Cup: Everything has gone according to plan for Pakistan, looking forward to semis, says Babar Azam

T20 World Cup: Pakistan remain unbeaten in the tournament and secured a place in the semi-finals with a 45-run win over Namibia in Abu Dhabi. It is the fifth time that Pakistan have reached the semi-finals of the tournament.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan wanted to bat deep on Monday and Pakistan have ticked all the boxes thus far in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup, the former said after their 45-run win over Namibia. Babar and Rizwan put up an opening partnership of 113 runs in 14.2 overs before the latter paired up with Mohammad Hafeez and they smashed 67 runs off 26 balls for the third wicket.

Babar surprised many by choosing to bat first after winning the toss. "It was a different plan today, wanted that opening partnership to go deep and it worked for us," he said. Babar said the team wanted to make sure that the likes of Mohammad Hafeez and Asif Ali get a different challenge while finishing the innings. While Asif did not have to bat, Hafeez was the one who gave Pakistan acceleration before Rizwan smashed 24 runs in the final over. The veteran all-rounder scored 32 off 16 balls.