Mohammad Rizwan, who powered Pakistan into the T20 World Cup semi-finals with a blistering 79 not out against Namibia here on Tuesday, said the plan was to take the game deep after struggling to get going early on.
“It was difficult to start off. We had difficulty understanding the conditions early on, hitting too was difficult so the plan was to take the game deep,” Rizwan, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his 50-ball knock, said.
He credited senior batter Mohammad Hafeez for his cameo of 32 from 16 balls, which allowed him to settle down before going for the kill in the final over, which yielded 24 runs.
“Initially the shot was not coming. I just had to bide my time.
“I had to wait for the opportunity and Hafeez bhai gave me the momentum so I could take off in the final over.
“All the boxes are ticked for the tournament, and now I think we are in with a fighting chance,” he said.