T20 World Cup | Clinical Pakistan breeze past Scotland, enter semis as the only unbeaten side

It was all hunky-dory for Pakistan as they nailed an expected victory against Scotland on Sunday night at Sharjah. They won their last game of the Super 12 to end up as the only unbeaten side in this edition of the T20 World Cup. They would now enter the semi-finals having won all their games and face Australia in the second semis at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on November 11. 

Chasing a target of 190 was never going to be easy for the Scots. The challenge for them never looked like chasing 190, it was always about showing better application with the bat against one of the best bowling attacks in the tournament. But they failed to do that and apart from Richie Berrington, who scored his first fifty in this edition of the World Cup, and to an extent George Munsey, no other batter was able to stay there for long. 

At the end of the 20 overs, the team in purple could only reach 117 with Berrington remaining unbeaten on 54 off 37 balls. They lost the game by a huge margin of 72 runs. For Pakistan, Shadab Khan picked two wickets while Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi picked one each. 

Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, Pakistan decided to bat first - making it twice in a row that they chose to take up the challenge of batting without the dew factor. The reasoning behind the decision making was to test themselves in situations that would be unfavourable to them and would have to set a total for the opposition team who would be batting in far better conditions. 

The opening partnership was once again steady as usual, but Pakistan were once again slow to get off the rails. They were 35 for no loss at the end of the powerplay with Mohammad Rizwan batting at 15 off 18 balls and captain Babar Azam striking almost at 100 SR with 17 off 18 balls to his name. 

The Pakistan keeper, who has been having a stellar tournament got out on the first ball outside the powerplay but that did not halt the scoring rate of the team. Babar Azam continued his good run and hit the fourth fifty in his fifth game of the tournament, a record held only by three players in the world. But it was the innings of Shoaib Malik that changed the course of the game as he hit an 18-ball fifty, the fastest for any Pakistani in T20I cricket. Thanks to his fifty, Pakistan scored 65 in the last four overs to reach 189 in their 20 overs. 

Scotland remained winless in the Super 12 stage even though they won three out of three in the first round of the tournament to make it to the Super 12. 

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was confident about his team’s chances in the semi-final at Dubai against Australia. He said, “We have confidence and belief in the team-mates. We are playing as a team and hence playing consistent cricket. We would want to continue with the same momentum.”

On other hand, Kyle Coetzer, the Scottish skipper was happy to have been able to inspire a few people back home to pick the game and make the country progress even more. “It's a huge occasion for an associate team to play in the World Cup. Hope we have inspired a few people. There is plenty of room for growth and I am sure these guys have learnt a lot,” he said.