Pakistan v Zimbabwe: 1st ODI – Comprehensive Analysis of the match
Zimbabwe fought bravely against Pakistan in the first One Day International of the three-match series at the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 on Thursday, September 8 2011.
However, the hosts failed to win the match in the end, as they fell five runs short of the total set by the opposition. They will still be pleased with their performance and will aim to challenge the tourists in a similar way in the remainder of the series.
Pakistan were expected to dominate the African team in every format of the game, but things have not turned out to be easy for the team. They were given a tough time by the opposition in the lone Test of the series, but managed to win it by seven wickets
in the end.
However, the Men in Green are considered to be a stronger unit when it comes to the limited-over format. They still failed to win the match easily and had to wait for a result until the very last delivery of the game.
Plenty of things went wrong for the tourists after their skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 opted to bat first at the toss. The pitch was very good for the batsmen and the team batting first was expected to score more than 300 runs.
However, Pakistan have done too many experiments on the ongoing tour, which did not allow them to post a massive target. The team has quite a lot of new faces, which made it difficult for them to cope up with the pressure.
Two players http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Junaid-Khan-c77037 has also featured in just a few international matches until now.
Apart from the new comers, some experienced players were also making their comeback in yesterday’s match, which made the environment of the Pakistani dressing room very nervous.
Former captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Malik-c90088 was dropped from the team following several controversies and lack of form. He managed just a couple of runs on his return.
Opening batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Farhat-c64218 has also been in and out of the team due to his poor form. He did not have a welcome return either, getting dismissed for a duck.
Only left-arm seamer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sohail-Tanvir-c90665 managed to make an impression in his returning game, as he picked up 1 wicket and scored some crucial runs towards the end of the Pakistani innings.
Despite all that, the Men in Green still scored 247 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 50 overs. The highlight of the innings was a spectacular batting performance from veteran http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325 and Misbah, as both score 78 and 54 respectively.
In reply, the Zimbabwean batsmen seemed to have some out with a definite plan. They attacked from one end and defended at the other. The team almost did a perfect job, courtesy solid half-centuries from opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BRM-Taylor-c1200.
Both batsmen scored 73 and 84 runs in their respective outings, but gave their wickets away at crucial stages of the match.
The turning point of the match was the 48th over of the Zimbabwean innings, which was bowled by off-spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859. He only conceded three runs in it and put the opposition under immense pressure.
Young fast bowler Junaid also displayed very good temperament, as he bowled a near to flawless last over of the innings. The hosts were restricted to 242 in the end, with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 taking a lead of 1-0 in the series.
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