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Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
PAKISTAN put Zimbabwe to the sword in the second One Day International cricket match with a convincing 10-wicket win at Queens Sports Club yesterday.
The three-match ODI series is now level at 1-1 and there will be all to play for in the decider tomorrow.
Pakistan looked the hungrier and the better of the two sides with both bat and ball having been asked to field first by the Chevrons.
Spinners, led by debutant Abrar Ahmed led the visitors’ bowling unit as they bowled out the hosts for a paltry 145 runs in 32,3 overs. Pakistan’s opening duo of Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique would go on to comfortably chase down the target inside 19 overs to make it one all.
Despite losing nine wickets to spin in their batting innings, Zimbabwe only introduced the slow bowlers after 10 overs with Sikandar Raza coming in to bowl the 11th.
Chevrons skipper Craig Ervine said they were hoping that their strike bowlers Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava would have been early to get an early breakthrough.
“Richard and Blessing have been our strike bowlers for a long time but there wasn’t as much turn as there was in the game on Tuesday. We thought that our best chance to strike early was with seam,” said Ervine.
Ervine also lamented their poor batting display in the two games that have been played so far.
“Our batting has been poor in both games. In the first game, Richard batted exceptionally well to get us to 205. We didn’t have any partnerships today. We had a few guys getting in but not continuing, getting 20s and 30s but you can never put a good score on the board unless someone bats deep. That’s something we need to look at and hopefully, we can apply ourselves a little bit better on Thursday,” said Ervine.
Ahmed said he was ready for the challenge in his first one-day match for Pakistan.
“My captain told me that I was going to bowl with the new ball and I was ready and prepared. We were well briefed and I aimed to take the maximum as I did in my T20I and Test debuts,” said Ahmed.
Zimbabwe, again, lost the first wicket to an unnecessary run out.
Tadiwanashe Marumani, after a miscommunication with Joylord Gumbie, was run out for four runs off two balls leaving the team on 6/1 after 1,3 overs.
The Chevrons would go on to lose wickets at regular intervals with no meaningful partnerships. Dion Myers top scored for the Chevrons with 33 runs off 30 deliveries while Sean Williams made 31 runs from 39 balls. Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza chipped in with 18 and 17 runs respectively.
Leg spinner (googly) Ahmed led Pakistan’s bowling unit with impressive figures of 4/33 in eight overs.
Salman Agha, another leg spinner, picked up three wickets for 26 runs in seven overs while Faisal Akram and Saim Ayub picked up one wicket each. The other wicket that fell was a run out.
Nothing was troubling Pakistan’s opening duo of Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique. The pair scored with ease with Ayub anchoring the innings with a fine 113 runs off just 62 balls. On the other end, Shafique played the careful innings of 32 runs from 48 deliveries.
Ayub’s innings consisted of 17 fours and three sixes while Shafique hit four fours with zero maximums.
For his brilliant century, Ayub was named Player of the Match. The series decider is scheduled for tomorrow at the same venue.
It will be a high-stakes game for both sides, with Zimbabwe looking to register their first-ever ODI series win over Pa-kistan while the visitors look to continue with their impressive overseas form following another win over Australia just under a fortnight ago.
The game starts at 09.30am.
Online Reporter