Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez firing with the bat against Namibia on Tuesday is an important sign for the side in the T20 World Cup.
Pakistan on Tuesday became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing tournament with a victory over Namibia by 45 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Hafeez smashed 32 off 16 balls as Pakistan racked up 189 in their allotted 20 overs and then restricted Namibia's reply to 144/5 as Men in Green registered their fourth win in four games in the World Cup.
"It's really good. We're maintaining our winning momentum. We wanted to do things differently today, test our batting. Conditions were tough early on. They bowled well and we wanted to take the partnership deep," said Babar after the win.
"The way Hafeez batted and got into form, it was important for us as he is a key player. Hasan Ali was given the new ball as conditions were suitable," he added.
Babar, however, pointed towards lethargic fielding and said Pakistan need to improve in that particular area if they want to continue the winning momentum.
"If you need to win tournaments, you need to be consistent across all departments. The fielding was a bit lax, there was dew, so that's an area to improve," said Babar
"Need to keep improving and irrespective of whom we face in the semifinal, we want to maintain the same intensity," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
