Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan - 2020/21

Pakistan have faced Zimbabwe for a 3 match One Day Series, in which Pakistan have won it 2-1 with the last one reaching the Super Over Stage. Now, the ODI Super League's Points Table looks even more interesting as Zimbabwean team have opened their account. In this blog, I am going to explain the scenarios held in three games at Simple English. Just go through the content fully.

All the three games were scheduled to play at Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi. The first match was held on 30th October, afternoon 12 pm. In this game, Pakistan have won the toss and decided to bat first. Openers gave a good first, with Imam Ul Haq placed a beautiful fifty. His cover drive shots and his square cuts were awesome to watch. On the other hand, Abid Ali was struggling find the timing, which was threatened by Mumba, Ngarava and Muzarabani. He was dismissed, and after his dismissal there was a slight slump with Babar Azam and Imam Ul Haq getting dismissed. In fact, the dismissal of Imam Ul Haq where at 25.5 over, he and Haris Sohail were at the crease, during which there is a run which wasn't necessary at that situation. Both tried to run and due to miscommunication, they end up reaching the same end, while at other end, the stumps were dislodged. After this dismissal, the man who made this mistake had himself corrected it. Yes, it Haris Sohail who blazed through with all his weapons. He played with all his mastery and scored an important fifty which helped Pakistani team to reach 281/8 in their 50 overs. Zimbabwean cricket team came into bat. They made their poor start with Shaheen Afridi swinging the ball towards both sides. Everybody thought that Zimbabwe will collapse, but there is a resurgence. This resurgence is because of the experienced Brendon Taylor. At one end, he was fighting for a win whereas there isn't any early support, with wickets getting lost. Who will be the supporter ? this is the question and the answer came in the form of Madhevere. Both joined hands and started building a great partnership. In this effort, Brendan Taylor scored an important century, while Madhevere scored a half century, which almost took away the game from Pakistan. But, Shaheen Afridi and Wahab Riaz came back even more stronger. Their plan were so simple. The planned and pitched the ball in middle and leg stump line at just short of good length. As the wicket has pace in it, this plan worked well, along with the natural angle. Hence, a fair collapse with Shaheen Afridi picking up 5 wicket haul, have helped winning the game for Pakistan by 36 runs.

Next game was on 1st November. It is a must win game for Zimbabwe, to stay in the series alive or otherwise the series will be sealed by Pakistan. Zimbabwe had won the toss and decided to bat first. Toss is an important, but the performance is even more important. In that case, Zimbabwe's batting didn't fired up. Pakistan's off break bowler Iftikhar Ahmed's 5 fer, rattled Zimbabwe's batting. Sean Williams played with some sort of intent, as his sweep shots against the spin bowlers, showed some fight, but with no support this isn't a good one to look upon. His knock of 75 isn't enough to save Zimbabwe from collapse which got them all out for just 206 runs. In reply, without much strength in bowling department, Pakistan chased it easily, with Babar Azam scoring a good fifty. Pakistan sealed the series, but still Zimbabwe needed to open their account in ODI Super League Points Table.

Then, the final one and the most thriller one. It was held on 3rd November, 2020. After Zimbabwe won the toss, they have choose to bat first. This time, it was thought that the same story might held in Zimbabwe's game, as Mohammad Hasnain's early strike, destroyed the top order of Zimbabwean cricket team. Yet again, Sean Williams playing a fighting innings, but this time a support is present. This support has arrived in the form of the experienced and Zimbabwe's yet to be hero, Brendan Taylor. They both fought too hard with Sean Williams scored a century while Brendan Taylor scored a fifty. Along with the duo, Sikandar Raza's healthy cameo at the end, helped them to reach the score of 278/6. Hasnain picked up 5 wicket haul. In reply, Pakistanis too lost early wickets. Captain Babar Azam was fighting but it seemed that the middle order didn't gave enough push to reach the score. But, lower order provided some relief with Wahab Riaz's fifty. Both played some scintillating innings and the game went like a wavelength, varying from one to another. Muzarabani picked up key wickets and he is the real hero. Match ended in a tie and at Super Over, Pakistan scored mere 3 runs which was chased comfortably by Zimbabwe. 

A fight by two unnoticed rivals, which ended up in its own flourishing style. After this series, there is a T20I series between them, and will this be an extraordinary encounter ??