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Jeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
PAKISTAN’S old guards, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, rescued their team from certain disaster yesterday but Zimbabwe will march into the fourth day of the first Test with a spring in their step feeling they still hold the edge. The hosts now trail their Asian counterparts by 90 runs, which is effectively 90-4, and if they can get quick wickets today, they could consolidate their strong position after dominating the three days at Harare Sports Club.
Zimbabwe managed a first innings lead of 78 runs with Elton Chigumbura reaching 69 from 129 balls after Malcom Waller (70) and Sikander Raza (60) set the hosts on a good position.
Chigumbura was instrumental in Zimabwe adding 46 runs to an overnight total of 281/7.
Saeed Ajmal struck in the morning session, removing Zimbabwe’s remaining three wickets to finish off with spectacular figures of seven wickets for 95 runs. Pakistan looked shaky after losing three early wickets for 23 runs, but Misbah and Younis played with maturity to help Pakistan wade out of a potentially sticky situation with a 116-run partnership. The pair gave nothing to chance —only four boundaries came off Misbah’s knock of 52 off 157 balls, Khan in the process reached his 50 in 116 balls.
Zimbabwe relied heavily of Tinashe Panyagara’s wicket-to-wicket bowling that yielded two wickets before the old guards’ rescue operation.
Zimbabwe did miss the services of a second specialist spinner to assist Prosper Utseya and make full use of the pitch just as Ajmal did.
“It was hard at the time when we got in because Zimbabwean bowlers bowled very well, they didn’t give any easy runs but we knew if we had a partnership things will be on our side and certainly having a 100-run partnership makes the game look even at the moment,” said Younis Khan. The long partnership was broken, much to the delight of Shingi Masakadza, with Misbah caught at cover. Younis Khan is still unbeaten at 76 with Ashad Shafiq at the crease on 15.
The major task will be to bowl them out by tea today and possibly restrict them to a 250-run lead. Zimbabwe captain Hamilton Masakadza believes his team can chase 250.
“It (the wicket) has flattened out a bit so I think even 250 is still within our reach.
“He (Ajmal) is going to be their main threat,” said Masakadza.
Pakistan believe they can still make a match of it. “The main problem is that Zimbabwean bowlers are bowling very well at the moment. We can defend anything from 200 to 300, something like that can be defended,” said Younis Khan.
Scorecard
Day1, Pakistan, first innings (overnight 249/9)
Day 2, Pakistan all out 249, Zimbabwe first innings (overnight 289/7)
Day3, Zimbabwe all out 327, Pakistan 168/4 Situation: Pakistan lead by 90 runs with 6 wickets.
Pakistan, first innings, 249
Zimbabwe, first innings (overnight 281-7)
T. Mawoyo c Adnan Akmal b Junaid Khan 13
V. Sibanda c Adnan Akmal b Junaid Khan 31
H. Masakadza b Saeed Ajmal 19
S Raza c Misbah-ul-Haq b Saeed Ajmal 60
M. Waller c Md Hafeez b Saeed Ajmal 70
E. Chigumbura c Azhar Ali b S Ajmal 69
R. Mutumbami lbw b Saeed Ajmal 13
P. Utseya b Rahat Ali 16
S. Masakadza lbw b Saeed Ajmal 14
T. Panyangara not out 4
T. Chatara c Younis Khan b Saeed Ajmal 0
Extras (b5, lb11, w2) 18
Total (103.3 overs) 327
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Mawoyo), 2-68 (Sibanda), 3-68 (H. Masakadza),
4-195 (Waller), 5-212 (Raza), 6-235 (Mutumbami), 7-278 (Utseya), 8-310 (S. Masakadza), 9-327 (Chigumbura)
Bowling: Junaid Khan 25-8-71-2, Rahat Ali 23-3-70-1 (1w), Abdur Rehman 19-5-56-0, Saeed Ajmal 32.3-4-95-7, Younis Khan 4-1-19-0
Pakistan, second innings
Khurram Manzoor lbw b Panyangara 5
Mohammad Hafeez c Mawoyo b Chatara 16
Azhar Ali lbw b Panyangara 0
Younis Khan not out 76
Misbah-ul-Haq c Sibanda b S. Masakadza 52
Asad Shafiq not out 15
Extras (b4) 4
Total (4 wkts, 70 overs) 168
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Manzoor), 2-21 (Azhar), 3-23 (Hafeez), 4-139 (Misbah)
Bowling: Chatara 18-5-48-1, Panyangara 13-7-15-2, Utseya 18-3-54-0, S.Masakadza 16-1-41-1, H. Masakadza 5-3-6-0
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