Zimbabwe beat Pakistan for the first time in a T20 International

Zimbabwe bowled Pakistan out for just 99 to defend a modest total of 118 and claim their first win over the Asian giants in 16 T20Is.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first and soon had Zimbabwe in trouble.

Zimbabwe lost skipper Brendan Taylor in the powerplay and settled into a sluggish run-rate albeit on a trick surface.

Opener Tinashe Kamunhukawme top scored with his effort of 34 as Zimbabwe limped to 118 for 9. Mohammad Hasnain’s 2/19 made him the pick of the bowlers, all six of whom were among the wickets.

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Zimbabwe needed to strike early and did through Luke Jongwe who accounted for the dangerous Mohammad Rizwan (13) in the final over of the powerplay.

Pakistan were guilty of imploding though as the pair of runouts they suffered bore testament to and the loss of Babar Azam saw them slip from 78 for 3 to 99 all out.

Taylor could barely contain his joy as Zimbabwe celebrated their first T20I win over Pakistan.

“Big turnaround from the first game,” Taylor said.

“They were very professional in the field and the bowlers had clear minds and executed their plans perfectly. I can’t say I was confident but the character shown was great. We dug deep, we managed to squueze Pakistan and our commitment got us over the line. As a batting unit, we need to fire a little more in the Powerplay. We feel they’re a stronger bowling unit than a batting unit, and if we get 140-150, we can challenge them.”

Jongwe was named man of the match for his 4 for 18 and took inspiration from the Proteas Tabraiz Shamsi, celebrating by taking a call on the shoe phone.

“It was a bit difficult later on in the innings. I kept on changing the pace and working on my strengths,” Jongwe said of his efforts.

A dejected Babar was scathing in his appraisal of his team’s efforts: “We played poor cricket. Credit to Zimbabwe who came back so strongly today. We continue to struggle in the middle order, but we need guys to step up. The wicket was similar to the other day, but it was double-paced. That’s not an excuse, we’re a professional side, and we should have chased this down.”

Scoreboard – second T20I between Zimbabwe and Pakistan

Zimbabwe

T. Kamunhukamwe c Azam b Aziz            34

B. Taylor c Hafeez b Ashraf               5

T. Marumani c Rizwan b Iqbal             13

W. Madhevere b Aziz                      16

R. Burl c Rizwan b Qadir                  3

R. Chakabva lbw b Rauf                   18

T. Musakanda b Hasnain                   13  

L. Jongwe c Fakhar b Hasnain              7

W. Masakadza run out (Hasnain)            0 

B. Muzarabani not out                     1 

R. Ngarava not out                        1

Extras (b4, lb2, w1)                      7

Total (9 wkts, 20 overs)                118                        

Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Taylor), 2-47 (Marumani), 3-68 (Kamunhukamwe), 4-71 (Burl), 5-83 (Madhevere), 6-108 (Musakanda), 7-116 (Chakabva), 8-116 (Muskadza), 9-116 (Jongwe)

Bowling: Mohammad Hasnain 4-0-19-2, Faheem Ashraf 2-0-10-1, Arshad Iqbal 4-0-16-1, Haris Rauf 3-0-10-1 (1w), Usman Qadir 4-0-28-1, Danish Aziz 3-0-29-2

Pakistan

Mohammad Rizwan c Musakanda b Jongwe     13 

Babar Azam c Madhevere b Jongwe          41

Fakhar Zaman c Musakanda b Burl           2

Mohammad Hafeez c Masakadza b Burl        5

Danish Aziz run out                      22

Asif Ali c sub (Tiripano) b Ngarava       1

Faheem Ashraf c Burl b Muzarabani         2

Usman Qadir run out                       0 

Haris Rauf c Taylor b Jongwe              6

Mohammad Hasnain not out                  0

Arshad Iqbal c Burl b Jongwe              0

Extras (b1, w6)                           7 

Total (19.5 overs)                       99

Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Rizwan), 2-37 (Fakhar), 3-56 (Hafeez), 4-78 (Azam), 5-79 (Ali), 6-87 (Ashraf), 7-92 (Aziz), 8-99 (Qadir), 9-99 (Rauf), 10-99 (Iqbal)

Bowling: Muzarabani 4-0-24-1 (1w), Ngarava 3-0-10-1, Jongwe 3.5-0-18-4 (2w), Madhevere 3-0-16-0 (2w), Burl 4-0-21-2 (1w), Masakadza 2-0-9-0

Result: Zimbabwe win by 19 runs

Series: Level at 1-1 ahead of final match Sunday

Toss: Pakistan

Umpires: Iknow Chabi, Langton Rusere (both ZIM)

TV umpire: Forster Mutizwa (ZIM)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)