Tuesday
Blessing Muzarabani caught two four-ball wickets in the super-top as Pakistan scored just two runs on the big, fast pitcher
Zimbabwe won 3-0 thanks to Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza on Shaheen Afridi’s first three balls to deny Pakistan a clean sweep of the series
Pakistan No 10 batsman Mohammad Musa hit a four of the last ball of their 50 innings against paceman Richard Ngarava to tie the score as Pakistan finished at 278-9 Zimbabwe scored 278-6
Captain Babar Azam’s run-a-ball 125 lifted Pakistan close to the target in a century-long battle with Wahab Riaz, who scored 52 balls out of 55 balls
But Muzarabani’s 5-49 included the wickets of Afridi and Babar in his last two deliveries to reverse the game before Musa reached the limit on the last ball through Richard Ngarava’s covers and forced a super top
Earlier, Sean Williams had survived three lost catches to score 118 of 135 balls for Zimbabwe Fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain, 20, scored 5-26, but Williams’ fourth ODI cent gave Zimbabwe their highest total in the series
“This win is huge for us,” said Williams “A lot of people are panicking under the pressure, but I think we deserved to win… we’re tired of being beaten, it’s way too long”
Ngarava struck in his first two overs of the Pakistan chase claiming the wickets of Fakhar Zaman, playing his first game of the series, and young Haider Ali
Paceman Donald Tiripano seized his first chance in the series by brushing aside Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed as Pakistan slipped to 88-5 in the 18th
But Babar started the pursuit again by adding 63 points with debutant Khushdil Shah (33) then 100 points with Riaz until the skipper gloved a sharp bouncer off Muzarabani in the penultimate
« I’m sad that I couldn’t finish the match after partnering with Wahab, but we learned a lot from today’s loss, » Babar said
Hasnain, playing his first ODI after more than a year, rocked Zimbabwe’s first order Captain Chamu Chibhabha, who won his second successive draw, was out for a duck to end the three-game streak with only 19 points combined
But Williams shared three half-century stands and took advantage of lost catches Hasnain could have gotten rid of Williams in his last game, but Musa dropped a keeper to third man
Williams added 84 points with Brendan Taylor (56) who was caught halfway through to give Hasnain his five-wicket shot
Williams propelled Zimbabwe’s total with a stand of 96 points, sixth wicket with Sikandar Raza (45) as they plundered fast bowlers Afridi (0-42), Riaz (1-65) and Musa (0 -80)
The only Pakistani player Ahmed, who grabbed five wickets in the second game, was also out of color and finished with 0-60
The 2-1 victory gave Pakistan 20 points in the World Super League while Zimbabwe got 10 points The top seven teams out of 13 nations participating in the league will achieve an automatic qualification for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India
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