T20 World Cup | Shoaib Malik hits fastest-ever fifty for Pakistan in T20I history

Babar Azam hits four fifties in T20 World Cup; equals Virat Kohli & Matthew Hayden

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has been in red-hot form and he has gone on to become only the third batsman in the history of the T20 world cups to score four half centuries in one edition of the tournament. Before him, only Matthew Hayden and Virat Kohli had achieved the feat in T20 world cup. He has produced scores of 66, 70, 51, 68 and nine so far in the tournament. He has been the soldi rock of the Pakistan batting unit and has led them from the front to the semi-finals even before the last game tonight. He, in the company of Mohammad Rizwan, has thwarted ambitious plans of the opposition bowling lineups so far in the tournament and should they retain their touch, Pakistan should feel confident about their chances to lift the trophy on November 14. Pakistan are the only undefeated side so far in the tournament and a lot of the credit for their unbeatable run should be given to the opening pair of Babar Azam and Rizwan, who went on to establish a personal milestone for himself with the bat. He surpassed Chris Gayle’s longstanding record of most runs scored in a calendar year in the same game.

T20 World Cup | After elimination, India cancel optional training session before Namibia fixture

After being knocked out of the T20 World Cup following Afghanistan’s defeat against New Zealand, Team India cancelled their optional practice session scheduled to take place at ICC Cricket Academy in Dubai, PTI reported. India were reliant on Afghanistan’s win over the Blackcaps as it would have brought them at equal points, and with their final game scheduled against Namibia, the Men in Blue would pressed on for a higher run rate to qualify for the semi-finals. Virat Kohli's men tried to play the catch-up game with blockbuster performances against Scotland and Afghanistan but listless performances against Pakistan and New Zealand made their path difficult. A lot of factors went against them, with the most important one being the toss, which never went India's way. But they would be more disappointed with two mediocre performances with both bat and ball. First, they were outclassed by Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi, who uprooted both Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul even before they could get their eyes in and the defeat in that game rubbed on to the batting unit against New Zealand as they could not play fearless cricket against a consistent and disciplined Kiwi bowling attack. It was the final tournament for Virat Kohli as the captain of India’s T20I side and hence he will have to relinquish the leadership role from at least one format without winning any major championship.

T20 World Cup | Bruised India look to test bench strength as Namibia aim to add insult to injury

So the World Cup’s group stage is finally coming to an end and it might not be the right way to end with a non-impact game as the result of this game won’t matter to anyone anywhere apart from the two teams involved in this game. While at one end there is India who have got literally nothing to play for apart from the fact that they can test their bench strength and give a somewhat accommodative farewell to Virat Kohli in his last game as the blue brigade’s T20I skipper. On the other end, there is Namibia who have everything to play for and end what has been their best-ever showing on a world stage. What's at stake? For India, there is obviously pride to play for. And along with it, there is also the opportunity to let the likes of Rahul Chahar have an experience of seeing what it is like to play in a World Cup. Other than that, Virat Kohli, who hasn’t really had a great outing with the bat so far can also promote himself as there is no burden of net run rate now. Playing freely should be the idea that team India could incorporate. For Namibia, there could be a no bigger opportunity than this one to show what they are made of. They did well against New Zealand and Pakistan and even won a Super 12 game by beating Scotland. If they have an impressive outing against India, which is not necessarily a win, but just to have great moments, it will go a long way in giving them the belief that they could do well. What needs to change? As far as India are concerned they would like to finish the game as soon as possible but that wouldn’t be at the cost of not giving youngsters such as Ishan Kishan and Rahul Chahar a chance to play. This match is dead by all means for India and they wouldn’t be losing anyways so why not give young players a feel of what it is like to play at the biggest event of them all. For Namibia, it would once again come down to their batting. The bowling of the team has been brilliant apart from the death overs against New Zealand in their last game, but it is the batting that has disappointed. In the first round, it was the batting of the likes of skipper Gerhard Erasmus and experienced David Wiese that got the team through in two tough games against Ireland and Netherlands and even in the Super 12 against Scotland. But since then the two players have not been able to get going and in the last match, it would only be fitting that they go all out with the bat. India vs Namibia: Match Details Match Number - 42 Date and Time: November 08, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 06:00 pm Local, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Broadcast and Livestream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The pitch at Dubai has overtime shown that it has some help for spinners early on, but as it gets wet in the second innings, there is literally nothing that the bowling unit can do and prevent a team from chasing down the total. Thus dew becomes a very undue advantage for the team batting second. Weather Forecast The temperature at the stadium will fall from 28-degree Celsius at 06:00 pm to 25-degree Celsius by 10:00 pm and similarly, the humidity will increase from 51% to 65%. With such a huge amount of humidity, heavy dew is expected as well. Team News India The Indian team can rest Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin for this game and give Ishan Kishan and Rahul Chahar a chance. Probable XI KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah Namibia Namibia can bring back Jan Frylick who is a sure shot all-rounder and as an experienced member of the team, he would be looking to play such a big game as this. Probable XI Stephan Baard, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green (wk), Michael van Lingen, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz CE XI Fantasy team Wicketkeepers Ishan Kishan Batters KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Gerhard Erasmus All-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, David Wiese, JJ Smit Bowlers Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ruben Trumpelmann Vice-Captain Ravindra Jadeja Captain KL Rahul

T20 World Cup 2021 | Mohammad Rizwan breaks six-year-long batting record of Chris Gayle

There is no stopping Pakistan and their opener Mohammed Rizwan, who is putting on performance after performance in the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup. He has broken the six-year-old record of most runs in a calendar year set by West Indies’ Chris Gayle in the year 2015 when he had piled on 1665 runs in 26 innings. Rizwan was just five runs away from surpassing Gayle’s tally and has gone on to score 1676 runs while playing tonight’s game against Scotland. His runs have come for his domestic side Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League and Pakistan national side. Earlier, he had surpassed India’s skipper Virat Kohli’s record as the batsman with third-highest tally in a calendar year that he achieved in the year 2016 by scoring 1610 runs. Rizwan has been in top-notch form in the T20 format since the time has was promoted up the order along with his skipper Babar Azam. He has played an instrumental role in leading Pakistan to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup this year. He started off the campaign with a brilliant in the first game and led Pakistan to their first ever win over India in a World Cup game