The first game of the series was played at Harare sports club and it proved to be a cliff hanger for both the team. Everybody knows that the hosts have a good bowling attack and it was proved when the openers of Pakistan were removed cheaply. Pakistan helped by the knocks from WASIM 12 ball 19 runs reached a respectable total of 136 by losing 8 wickets. The ball moved and spun sharply, so batsmen found it extremely difficult to notch big scores. Ahmed SHEHZAD started confidently but was foxed by the medium pacer Chibhabha and was clean bowled for 17 runs. At one stage, the guest team had lost 3 of its openers for 29 runs. SHOAIB MALLICK and MAKSOOD then combined together to form a solid partnership of 58 runs. Later on some lusty hitting from the tail Enders helped Pakistan to post a defendable total.
Due to variety of Pakistan bowling line up, Zimbabwe couldn’t start their chase with a bang. As a result half of the team was back into the pavilion when the scoreboard reached 66 runs. Captain ELTON CHIGUMBURA hit a fine knock of 31 but he could only delay the inevitable. WASIM with his spin captured 4 Zimbabwe wickets and became man of the match.
2nd T20 Match was held in the same stadium on 29th of September. Pakistan opted to bat first but its openers HAFEEZ and SHEHZAAD refused to fire. They were removed cheaply due to the accurate bowling of JONGWE and PAYANGRA. MAKSOOD again became a savior by quickly scoring 26 runs however rest of the batsmen didn’t apply themselves in a proper manner. MALIK was cleaned by CREMER as he tried to him out of the park. Pakistan could only make 136 runs of the allotted 20 over and in the process lost 6 wickets. UMAR AKMAL was the highest scorer from Pakistan with a knock of
It was a low scoring encounter where the Zimbabwe batsmen had to face the formidable Pakistani bowling. They tried their best but fell 15 runs short of the target. MASAKZADA was removed by the bounce of MOHAMMAD IRFAN. Wickets fell quickly and soon the hosts were tottering at 24 runs for 4 wickets. It was a precarious situation but Sean Williams stood like a rock and scored 40 runs off 36 balls. He was ably supported by SIKANDAR RAZA who scored run a ball. Both struck a partnership of 60 runs but the tail didn’t respond to the challenge apart from a swashbuckling knock of 17 run of 8 balls from ELTON CHIGUMBURA. UMAR AKMAL was adjudged man of the match. He pulled and hooked with aplomb and didn’t get bogged down by the tight bowling of the opposition. IMAD WASIM was the prime factor that led Pakistan to clinch the series. He was adjudged the MAN of the series. In the last over of IMRAN khan SEAN Williams tried to score the runs but it was not possible to negotiate the tight bowling.