After being put into bat, Pakistan huffed and puffed their way to 149/7 which came largely on the back of Mohammad Rizwan’s unbeaten 82. The Pakistan bowlers struck regularly to disrupt Zimbabwe’s run chase and eventually held their nerve to record an 11-run win.
It was a spirited fight from Zimbabwe and they looked in control for a large part of the game. Be it with the ball in the first innings or with the bat (at least in the first 10 overs), the Sean Williams-led side didn’t look like pushovers and gave Pakistan a run for their money. However, Babar Azam and co proved to be a touch too powerful in the end and continued their unbeaten streak against Zimbabwe in the T20I format.
After inserting Pakistan into bat first, Zimbabwe started off really well. Blessing Muzarabani prized out Pakistan skipper Babar Azam in the second over the of the game. Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman steadied the ship and took the visitors to 42/1 at the end of the powerplay.
However, Zimbabwe bossed the middle overs and picked wickets at regular intervals. Wesley Madhevere got two wickets in as many overs to leave Pakistan 55/3. Just when Rizwan forged another partnership with Luke Jongwe struck twice as well and there was a runout as well which left the Babar Azam-led side reeling at 100/6 in 16 overs. A big flourish from Rizwan at the end helped Pakistan get to 149.
In reply, Zimbabwe got off to a decent start as Wesley Madhevere struck three boundaries in the first couple of overs. But Mohammad Hasnain cut short the promising start from the hosts as he picked up two wickets in two balls. Zimbabwe were in a bit of trouble at 21/2.
Craig Ervine and Tinashe Kamunhukamwe got the run-chase back on track as the duo shared a 56-run stand for the third wicket. Things were going along nicely and Zimbabwe were keeping up with the required rate as well. But a surprise move from Babar Azam got the breakthrough. He turned to Mohammad Hafeez who had bowled just one over since November 2018 and the veteran all-rounder delivered. He had Kamunhukamwe stumped for 29 before Usman Qadir ran through the Zimbabwe middle-order to drive home the advantage. The 27-year-old leg-spinner picked up three wickets in the span of two overs to turn the game upside down.
Luke Jongwe tried his best in the lower order and scored an unbeaten 30 but he didn’t have much support from the other end. Zimbabwe eventually ended up falling 11 runs short of registering their maiden T20I win over Pakistan.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 149/7 (Rizwan 82*, Aziz 15, Madhevere 2/11, Jongwe 2/24) beat Zimbabwe 138/7 (Ervine 34, Jongwe 30*, Qadir 3/29, Hasnain 2/27) by 11 runs
