T20 World Cup Match Prediction: Pakistan versus Namibia. 31st Match. Who Will Win?

While T20 cricket is the most unpredictable format of the game, defeat for Pakistan by Namibia would surely surpass the greatest ever T20 upset of Zimbabwe’s defeat of Australia in the inaugural T20 World Cup 2007. For Namibia, the games just don’t come any better or harder than this one against Pakistan. Namibia’s fairy-tale journey into the Super 12 takes a significant step-up in class of opponent in Pakistan. By contrast, Pakistan has been a model of consistency in winning their three games in Group 2 and a semi-final place awaits.

Can Namibia, 15th in the ICC T20 team rankings defeat Pakistan ranked 2nd and become T20 legends? Keep on reading this T20 match prediction to find out.

Pakistan Team News

Pakistan have now played and beaten the three hardest teams in Group 2: India, New Zealand, and Afghanistan, and lead with 6 points. Few would have predicted that The Men in Green would have qualification to the semis with such ease after these three games. Their qualification would be confirmed with a victory over Namibia.

The outstanding and historic win over India (by 10 wickets) in their opening game made people sit up and take notice of their intent. After a convincing win against New Zealand (by 5 wickets) and a tense finish to edge out Afghanistan, the unpredictability tag often applied to Pakistan cricket is nowhere to be seen. As a unit they have played with fantastic ability and resolve. The batting order goes deep and has been sound while bowlers Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Imad Wasim are also performing well.

With qualification a near certainty it is likely we will see some squad rotation in this and/or the following game against Scotland, so that key players are rested for the semi-final. Shaheen Afridi will most likely miss one of these games. Pakistan may go with an unchanged batting line-up to give key captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Mohammad Hafeez opportunity at the crease.

Namibia Team News

Playing the likes of tournament heavyweights Pakistan, India and New Zealand is what Namibia’s players would have dreamed of when opening the Group A stage. But it is a dream being realised very quickly over the next six days.

Having qualified to the Super 12, Namibia continued their remarkable journey by beating Scotland (4 wicket victory chasing down 109) but were unable to build on this and lost heavily to Afghanistan on Sunday (62 run defeat scoring 98 for 9 off 20). Namibia are looking to bounce back and perform but will do very well to last the 20 overs with the bat, especially if Pakistan retain a strong bowling line-up.

David Wiese is Namibia’s star all-round player, his side's highest scorer (142 runs), and will be familiar to Pakistan having experience in the Pakistan Super League T20. Ruben Trumpelmann (3-17 and 2-34) provides genuine quality pace bowling with the new ball.

Captain Gerhard Erasmus' side have a settled team and made a slightly changed batting order against Afghanistan with wicketkeeper/batsman Zane Green dropping down the order and Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton promoted to number three. Batsmen and bowlers alike would love to make headline news over the coming days. Namibia’s remaining matches are certainly going to provide great experience for their players!

Toss Prediction

Whichever team manages to win the coin toss will likely opt to bowl first. So far, we have seen a common theme where the majority of teams who bat second are victorious. Amongst other reasons, this could be partly due to dew settling in the evening.

Pitch Conditions

Although the Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch in Abu Dhabi has not been favoured for making runs, if Pakistan bat first and they retain a strong batting line-up, it is possible they might surpass Afghanistan’s tournament highest core of 190 against Scotland. All three of Namibia games in Group stage were played at this venue.

Our Prediction

A very hard task lies ahead for Namibia. Namibia’s players will be very keen to play in this and forthcoming games against the heavyweight teams, but enthusiasm and resolve are unlikely to prevent even a changed Pakistan team from producing another resounding display. A win for Pakistan will take them into the semi-finals.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are likely to be top scoring batsmen for Pakistan and captain Gerhard Erasmus and David Wiese are likewise best placed to make the highest scores for their team. If he is not rested then Shaheen Afridi’s late swinging yorkers with the new ball are likely to be too strong for some of Namibia’s batsmen. Against Afghanistan, six Namibian wickets fell to pace bowling, and Pakistan have a much stronger bowling attack.

Should Namibia bat first it is hard to see them posting a score exceeding 100, even with a slightly under strength bowling line up for Pakistan.

We believe Pakistan will make it four wins from four, and in all areas of the game have superiority and ability. An upset here would be astonishing and is reflected at betting sites with odds in favour of Namibia generally hovering around 11.00.

Our match prediction: