Toss: Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first.

Teams: 

Zimbabwe: V Sibanda, H Masakadza, BRM Taylor, SC Williams, SR Butt, MN Waller, E Chigumbura, P Utseya, T Panyangara, TL Chatara, S Masakadza

Pakistan: Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Amin, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan



Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed provided Pakistan a solid start and managed to pick 37 runs from the mandatory power-play. The first wicket fell in the 16th over, when Nasir Jamshed played a shot away from his body and was caught behind off Chatara for 38(51). The in form, Mohammad Hafeez, joined Ahmed Shehzad, but, unfortunately, couldn’t carry on for long as he retired hurt on 12 due to a hamstring injury. 

Misbah-ul-Haq was the next man in and started really cautiously as he usually does. In the meanwhile, Ahmed Shehzad crossed the 50-run mark, but after just adding for more runs, was caught by Sikandar Raza off Hamilton Masakadza for 54(85). Umar Amin took no time in settling and took off in the batting powerplay. He and Misbah-ul-Haq shifted gears and the batting powerplay brought 36 runs for Pakistan. In the 41st over, Umar Amin’s innings came to an end, when he was caught sharply by Prosper Utseya off his own bowling for 33(25). 

Shahid Afridi failed to replicate his hitting from the last match and gave a soft catch to Brendan Taylor. He made 7 runs from as many deliveries. Sarfraz Ahmed then joined his skipper and played shots right from the word go with Misbah-ul-Haq providing him support. Sarfraz Ahmed added brisk 22 runs from 13 balls, before playing it in the hands of Brendan Taylor. 

The injured, Mohammad Hafeez, bravely made his way out and smashed a four. Misbah-ul-Haq, on the other hand, scooped one high to Sikandar Raza. He departed for a very fine innings of 67(85). Mohammad Hafeez struck another four and Pakistan ended up with 260/6 from 50 overs. Zimbabwe were set a competitive target of 261 to win a historic series. 

Fall Of Wickets:

1-66 (Nasir Jamshed, 15.3 overs)
2-119 (Ahmed Shehzad, 32.2 overs)
3-170 (Umar Amin, 40.2 overs)
4-195 (Shahid Afridi, 43.6 overs)
5-243 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 48.4 overs)
6-251 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 49.4 overs)



Misbah-ul-Haq brought Mohammad Hafeez to open the bowling and the move played dividends as he got rid of Vusi Sibanda for 2(8). Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor did some repair work, but not for too long as the first one was stumped off Abdur Rehman for 25(42) in the 11th over. Brendan Taylor smashed three fours in three overs, but was run out for 26(29) - thanks to a brilliant fielding effort by the Pakistani skipper.

In the next over, Sikandar Raza Butt was trapped lbw by Mohammad Hafeez for 6(16). Sean Williams was run out once again courtesy of Misbh-ul-Haq. From that point on, Zimbabwe never got going as Elton Chigumbura was then trapped lbw by Shahid Afridi for 2. Prosper Utseya and Malcolm Waller steadied somewhat and built a 70-run partnership. Prosper Utseya became the third batsman to run himself out. He scored 23(50). In the next over, Shingi Masakadza was bowled by Saeed Ajmal for a duck. Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman wrapped it up by taking the last two wickets. Pakistan won the match by a convincing margin of 108 runs. Pakistan thus managed to win the first squared series since July 2002.

Fall Of Wickets: 

1-12 (Sibanda, 3.4 overs)
2-46 (H Masakadza, 10.4 overs)
3-66 (Taylor, 14.5 overs)
4-68 (Sikandar Raza, 15.6 overs)
5-75 (Williams, 16.6 overs)
6-87 (Chigumbura, 22.4 overs)
7-145 (Utseya, 36.6 overs)
8-146 (SW Masakadza, 37.2 overs)
9-149 (Panyangara, 38.3 overs)
10-152 (Waller, 39.6 ov)

An expected ODI series victory but a 2-1 margin will leave some questions for Pakistan management to answer. Once again, familiar names in Pakistani batting doing well but also great to see Umar Amin stand up to the test as well. The strike rate of the top batsmen remains a concern and there is plenty of time before the series against South Africa to fix this issue. 

The Pakistani bowling was supposed to be too much to handle for Zimbabwe and apart from the blip in the 1st ODI, it would appear that the bowlers did their job well although some of the bowling strategies to Zimbabwean batsmen deserve to be questioned and the bowling coach needs to think about these given the Test series will begin in 2 days time.

Zimbabwe can also hold their heads high - they refused to bow down to what many termed a superior team and gave a good account of themselves. Whether they can continue the fight in the 5 day version of the series is moot but there is plenty of talent in this team to worry Pakistan.

 

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