Zimbabwe finish Day 1 on 237/8 after winning the toss and electing to bat

by Pakpassion Staff (10th September 2013)

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

Teams:

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Khurram Manzoor, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal†, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Rahat Ali

Zimbabwe: TMK Mawayo, V Sibanda, H Masakadza, BRM Taylor*, MN Waller, E Chigumbura, R Mutumbami†, P Utseya, T Panyangara, BV Vitori, TL Chatara
 

After a comprehensive victory in the 1st Test, Pakistan looked to continue to dominate in the 2nd Test. Taylor won the toss and elected to bowl first. Junaid Khan drew first blood in his very first over when he trapped Tino Mawayo LBW. Rahat Ali shared the new ball with Junaid, both of them looked threatening in the very first hour. At the end of the 8th over, Zimbabwe were 1/1. Both batsman looked a bit nervous, but as the ball got older, they looked comfortable. Vusi Sibanda made a precarious start, before chopping one back onto his stumps. 

In came the Captain at 4, Taylor. While, on the other end Masakadza looked solid. An impressive stand of 110 runs between Taylor and Masakadza made the home team look quite conformable, before Saeed Ajmal struck to get rid of Masakadza for 75. 

At tea, Zimbabwe were poised at 165/3. Malcom Waller played some attacking strokes to move onto 23, before Junaid stuck again to get an edge past Waller's bat through to the keeper's hands. As Taylor played his natural game, he moved onto making a sensible 50, but it was Abdur Rehman who got rid off him LBW for 51. With 5 wickets down and just 178 runs on the board, Pakistan were on top. To add more to Pakistan's favour, Junaid got the wicket of Mutumbami as he edged it to Adnan Akmal. Chigumbura and Utseya looked to steady their ship, but Abdur Rehman struck again to dismiss Chigumbura. Since then, Zimbabwe's tailenders have stretched their total to 237/8.

Fall Of Wickets

0/1 (Tino Mawayo, 0.2 ov),
31/2 (Vusi Sibanda, 16.2 ov),
141/3 (Hamilton Masakadza, 52.4 ov),
172/4 (Malcom Waller, 63.4 ov),
176/5 (Brendon Taylor, 66.3 ov),
187/6 (Richmond Mutumbami, 69.5 ov),
203/7 (Elton Chigumbura, 78.6 ov),
234/8 (Tinashe Panyangara, 87.5 ov),

 

Pakistan started well in the 2nd Test as Junaid Khan and Rahat Ali were excellent with the new ball. Some beauties by both the pacers managing to pick 2 wickets in the morning session. Masakadza and Taylor's 110 run partnership proved to be vital, but Pakistan managed a breakthrough causing some tension in the Zimbabwe dressing room. Wickets kept falling and Zimbabwe never threatened Pakistan with another partnership. Pakistan will aim to put and end to this innings as soon as possible tomorrow morning or face a tough time on a pitch which is not easy to score runs on.

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