Pakistan crush Scotland to top the table

Pakistan 189 for 4 (Babar 66, Malik 54*, Hafeez 31, Greaves 2-43) beat Scotland 117 for 6 (Berrington 54*, Shadab 2-14) by 72 runs

Sharjah: Pakistan beat Scotland by 72 runs in the penultimate match of the Super 12 stage as Babar Azam's side wrapped up top spot in Group 2.

Pakistan produced a dominant performance in their final Super 12 game to brush Scotland aside in Sharjah and finish top of Group 2 with five wins from five.

Captain Babar Azam was in the runs again for his side, hitting a glorious 66 off 47, with quickfire contributions from Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, helping Pakistan to a sizeable total of 189/4.

And in reply, Scotland survived but got a little stuck against the quality of Pakistan’s attack, reaching just 117/6 still 72 runs short.

Pakistan’s fifth straight win means they qualify top of Group 2, ahead of New Zealand, who beat Afghanistan earlier in the day to seal their own qualification.

They will face Australia in the second semi-final in Dubai on Thursday, with the Black Caps playing England a day earlier in Abu Dhabi.

Scotland end bottom of Group 2 after five defeats, but will take heart from a Round 1 performance that included a win over Bangladesh and their resulting qualification for the next ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

Openers Mohammad Rizwan and Azam got Pakistan off to a solid start, before Rizwan edged a flighted Hamza Tahir delivery to the keeper.

But the skipper kept the momentum going, hitting one particularly spectacular six out of the stadium, as he built a platform for his team.

Fakhar Zaman’s stay in the middle came to an end when he miscued a Chris Greaves delivery to Michael Leask as his disappointing run of form continued.

The Pakistan skipper punished Scotland through the middle overs before finally falling for an outstanding 66 in the 18th over – an innings that featured eight boundaries and some glorious strokeplay.

Pakistan were already on course for a decent total, but that became a monster total when first Hafeez and then Malik went big to punish Scotland in dramatic fashion.

Hafeez’s 31 off 19 upped the scoring rate through the middle overs before he fell in the 15th. But Malik’s onslaught was on another level, with Scotland having no answer to the veteran’s power.

Malik hit three maximums in the final over to record his own half-century, reaching 54 off just 18 balls in a masterful display of power-hitting.

The stunning effort is the fastest 50 scored by a Pakistan player in T20 internationals.