Zimbabwe 246 for 3 (Masakadza 85, Sibanda 54, Taylor 43*) beat Pakistan 244 for 7 (Misbah 83*, Hafeez 70) by 7 wickets
The last time Zimbabwe beat Pakistan in any format was 15 years ago.
Back then, Pakistan lost to arguably the most formidable Zimbabwe side
in history - one that was capable of standing up to the best
international sides. With the cricketing climate in the country having
undergone a drastic change since then, any victory by current setup
against a top side will be remembered for long. Coming off a
disappointing T20 series, where Zimbabwe failed to figure out how to
close out a chase, they held their composure and applied themselves
better despite the short turnaround time.
A strong opening stand of 107 between Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton
Masakadza was the bedrock in their chase of 245. Having dealt with the
seamers with ease during the T20s, Zimbabwe's chances of victory hung on
how they would perform outside their comfort zone. They looked ill at
ease against the spin trio in the T20s but crucially, this time, they
didn't let the spinners run away with the advantage. Saeed Ajmal managed
to strike, but the long interval between breakthroughs meant that
Pakistan were always playing catch-up. In the closing stages, Pakistan
had created enough pressure to bring the equation down to a run-a-ball,
but a combination of poor fielding and freakish luck meant that it was
Zimbabwe's day.
Before this match, Masakadza spoke about the importance of his duty, as
an opener, to set the base and not allow pressure to build on the lower
order. Back at the top, a position he is comfortable with, and with an
opening partner from school days, Masakadza took the initiative by
hammering Junaid Khan for three boundaries in an over. The openers were
strong through the off side against the left-armers and the boundary
barrage prompted captain Misbah-ul-Haq to bring in spin from both ends
from the eighth over.
The spinners managed to keep the runs down but wickets eluded them.
Misbah used all five bowlers by the end of 12 overs and the breakthrough
finally came in the 24th, when Sibanda stayed back to an Ajmal ball
that spun back in. Masakadza reached his fifty the following over and
continued to take on the spinners, sweeping Ajmal and reading Shahid
Afridi's variations. He chipped down the track and lofted Afridi over
extra cover for six in an over that produced 13. The frustration showed
in Pakistan's fielding, when in that over, a drive back to the bowler
which should have been stopped resulted in two runs.
Masakadza fell during the batting Powerplay, smashing Ajmal straight to
cover. It was only temporary relief for Pakistan because by then Taylor
was set, having already hit four boundaries. Pakistan didn't do
themselves any favours in the field, though. A struggling Timycen Maruma
tried to loft over long-on but Ahmed Shehzad was in two minds whether
to catch or stop the ball and the ball bounced over his head for four.
Taylor himself was let-off, on 37, when a reverse sweep went straight to
point where Junaid dropped it.
Luck was firmly in Zimbabwe's favour. Maruma's wobbly knock suggested
that Zimbabwe were starting to panic, but Sean Williams, aided by some
good fortune, ensured his side held the edge with a spicy cameo. An
inside edge off Junaid hit the base of the stumps but miraculously,
didn't dislodge the bails. Worse still for Pakistan, it went for four.
Williams sealed the win in style, smashing a six over midwicket to give
Zimbabwe their first ODI win against a top team since October 2011.
Pakistan, winning the toss, found runs hard to come by at the start due
to steady seam bowling, recovered in the middle thanks to Mohammad
Hafeez's brisk half-century, and stumbled towards the end, failing to
accelerate due to the pressure caused by the sudden fall of wickets.
What prevented them from suffering a complete meltdown was
Misbah-ul-Haq, who carried on his good form from the West Indies with
his fourth consecutive fifty.
It was a mixed day for Zimbabwe in the field. A series of drops at the
start showed that the team had hardly made any progress on that front
since the India tour. Mohammad Hafeez was a beneficiary of one of those
drops, when on 10. He went on to score 70, but the pace of his innings
was crucial, with Misbah not deviating from his tried and tested
conservative approach in the middle overs.
Hafeez found early momentum with three sixes off Prosper Utseya, down
the ground, though he was lucky the second one wasn't pouched at the
boundary's edge. Hafeez was strong through the off side, punishing the
offspinners in particular. He picked 48 of his 70 runs off Utseya and
Malcolm Waller, picking the large gaps square of the wicket on the off
side.
Pakistan struggled to maintain a healthy run-rate following that wicket.
Umar Amin was run-out trying to complete a second run. Afridi played a
typical blink-and-you-missed-it cameo before edging a slog. Haris Sohail
was caught brilliantly by Utseya, who plucked a one-handed blinder at
short cover - a catch good enough to forget the sitters put down earlier
by Zimbabwe.
Misbah's innings had a high percentage of singles - he had scored only
two fours till the 46th over, and yet had managed a decent strike-rate
of 81.69. Yet, he saved his big hitting only for the final over, mowing
Tinashe Panyangara for massive blows over the on side to take Pakistan
to 244. It was well short of stretching the hosts, who are a win away
from sealing the series.
No comments:
Post a Comment