T20 World Cup 2021: Pakistan innings against Namibia "throws out a template" for batting first - Shan Masood

Pakistan started slowly after opting to bat against Namibia in the 2021 T20 World Cup on Tuesday, but turned on the style in the final 10 overs to finish with a score of 189/2 that they defended with ease to qualify for the semi-finals.

Babar Azam hit 70 off 49 deliveries while Mohammad Rizwan gave their innings the perfect finish with an unbeaten 50-ball 79.

The tournament has seen teams batting second and winning the majority of matches, but Pakistan batter Shan Masood feels that their display on Tuesday laid down a template for teams to follow while setting a target.

To see the updated points table of T20 World Cup 2021, click here.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, he said:

"Anything above 160, that’s what Pakistan would have been looking for. And it just sort of throws out a template not just for Pakistan, but for other teams. And they followed suit from England. If you’ve got wickets in hand, if you’ve got your main batsmen in hand and batsmen that can play in different gears like Babar and Rizwan, then you don’t have to go gung-ho in the first six overs."

England on Monday rode on Jos Buttler's brilliant century to recover from an early loss of wickets to put on 163/4 and successfully defend that total.

Speaking further about how it's not necessary to be very aggressive in the powerplay overs if a team has batters that can take advantage later, Shan added:

"You are better off preserving those wickets and putting the fielding side under pressure once the Powerplay is over. The important thing is not to play dot balls and to run hard and that is what Babar and Rizwan did."

Important for Pakistan that Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan bat deep: Shan Masood

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are often seen occupying the crease for the majority of Pakistan's innings in T20 Internationals (T20Is) and the same was the case on Tuesday. The duo put on 113 in 14.2 overs before the Pakistan captain was caught in the deep.

This was their second stand of over 100 runs in the tournament, having helped Pakistan chase 152 against India without losing a single wicket in their opening match.

Shan Masood said that while there may be concerns that them batting so deep could lead to their more aggressive batters having less time to make an impact, the conditions have proved that it is important that they don't throw away their wickets.

"That actually caused panic amongst Pakistan before the World Cup squad was announced. They thought Babar and Rizwan were batting too deep and that left their power-hitters or their aggressive batsmen with less balls to face and less of an impact to make. Well, having looked at the conditions and Pakistan’s strengths, it’s pretty important that these guys bat the majority of the overs," he said.

Shan said that it took the pressure off the team while still giving enough time to players like Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali to make a difference, adding that they also had Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim to add depth to their lineup.

"Like we saw with Hafeez, he came in, scored that boundary off the first ball, hit 32 off 16, so it just gives everyone that amount of freedom and that’s what players like Hafeez, Asif Ali, Shoaib Malik and Fakhar Zaman need and then they have Imad and Shadab to follow as well," Shan said.

Pakistan will face Scotland in their final Super 12 match.