Highlights
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan by 19 runs
Luke Jongwe was the Man of the Match for his 4/18
Poor performance by Pakistan Batsmen
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan: Overview
A historical victory for Zimbabwe after they beat Pakistan for the first time in their T20 history. Zimbabwe did an exceptional job with the bowling to defend 118 and win by 19 runs. Luke Jongwe was the star with the bowl picking up a four-wicket haul on a sluggish Harare pitch to level the series 1-1. Zimbabwe bowler astonished the visitors as they tumbled down to 99 all out in the reply to 118.
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – Zimbabwe Struggled at Batting: After winning the toss Pakistan captain Babar Azam seeing the pitch condition asked the host to bat first. Brendan Taylor back after missing the first game due to a gastrointestinal infection opened the batting with Tinashe Kamunhukamwe. With the lack of strike rotations and runs in the powerplay, Brendan Taylor decided to go over the top but miscued a good length bowl and got out caught in the cover off Ashraf. Tinashe struggled in the middle but somehow managed to score 34 runs off 40 bowls in a winning cause for Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – Middle Order Tried: Wickets fell at regular intervals and Zimbabwe went down to 83/5 in the 15th over. But a partnership of 25 of 18 balls from Regis Chakabva and Tarisai Musakanda helped Zimbabwe to reach 118 of 20 overs. The score was never going to be enough to defend as the asking rate was below 6 from the start of the innings.
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – Pak bowlers did a good job: Pakistan bowlers did a magnificent bowling effort to restrict the host to 118 with all the bowlers taking wickets. Muhammad Hasnain was the pick of the bowler for his two wickets scalps and conceding just 19 runs in his four overs. Danish Aziz was a bit expensive but took two wickets in his three overs. All other bowlers took one wicket each. Haris Rauf took an all-important wicket of Regis Chakabva who was looking dangerous towards the end helping Pakistan to restrict Zimbabwe to a mediocre score.
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – An Outside chance for ZIM: As the wicket was slow and sluggish, Zimbabwe had an outside chance to defend the score. The bowlers started well bowling tight lines wicket to wicket and took the pace off the bowl kept the visitor silent. In the powerplay, Pakistan only managed to score 27 losing one wicket. The batting unit never looked settled and Zimbabwe bowlers made it tough to get away easily. The bowler kept on picking wickets at regular intervals
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – Poor Batting display by PAK: Luke Jongwe who had an excellent match in the first game chipped in and bowled a well-disguised slower ball to get rid of Rizwan. Rizwan got out caught chipping straight to the man at cover. Fakhar Zaman trying to go over the top to release the pressure hit Ryan Burl straight to Musakanda at long-on. Mohammad Hafeez came out replacing Fakhar too looked out of touch scored just five runs off 10 balls mistimed and caught out on long-on, again off Burl.
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – Pressure building up: Babar holding one end while Danish Aziz joined him in the middle. Both tried to cover up for the loss and tried their best to bring Pakistan back into the match but failed to score freely. The boundaries were dried up putting more pressure on the Pakistani batsmen that is when the set batsmen Babar Azam tried to release the pressure and go over the top but only could able to deposit it into the hands of Wesley Madhevere in the cover of Luke Jongwe over.
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – ZIM finished up in style: At 79/4 in the 16th over, Pakistan needing 40 runs off 24 balls was under serious pressure. The lower order perished, lost six wickets just for 20 runs. Muzarabani knocked two wickets in the same over taking the wicket of set batsman Danish Aziz ending the hope of Pakistan.
Zimbabwe Beat Pakistan – The Hero: Luke Jongwe was the star of the match with his four scalps helping Zimbabwe to register their first-ever win against Pakistan. Brendan Taylor captaining Zimbabwe after six years leading his team to victory and made history. Zimbabwe didn’t have a good series against Afghanistan where they were white-washed by the host.”Big turnaround from the first game and that’s all that you can ask from your players. They executed the plans superbly,” Taylor said with a smile on his face after the game.
With the series tied 1-1, both the team will play for the decided on 25th April at 02:30 PM IST.
CONCLUSION
An unforgettable day for Zimababwe cricket as this win will be registered in the history book. The bowler were exceptional today. Pakistan could have shown some more intent to win the match.
THE TURNING POINT
The slow start by Pakistan openers and Luke Jongwe four wicket halls.
Player of the Match
Brief scores: ZIM 118/9 in 20 overs (Tinashe Kamunhukamwe 34, M Hasnain 2/19) beat PAK 99 all out in 19.5 overs (B Azam 41, L Jongwe 4/18, R Burl 2/21) by 19 runs
PLAYING XI
PAK Playing XI: Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Muhammad Hasnain, Arshad Iqbal
ZIM Playing XI: Tinashe Kamumhukamwe, Brendan Taylor, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wesley Madhevere, Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabve, Tarisai Musakanda, Luke Jongwe, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava
NEXT MATCH
The next match will held on 24 April, 2021 and will be the decider as the series tied up 1-1.
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