Pakistan v Zimbabwe –
Pakistan’s Test match against Zimbabwe in the midst of controversies – Part 3
After being faced with the stiff resistance from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/T-Taibu-c2630 and Tino Mawoyo the Pakistanis were heading for a meltdown as they were starved from grabbing a wicket when the two Zimbabweans were still batting.
It was in the 66th over when Pakistan finally managed to break the partnership which had posted 65 runs when Taibu after playing a handy knock of 44 runs was caught by wicketkeeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sohail-Khan-c90647. By the time of the
Pakistanis got this wicket, Zimbabwe had posted 176 runs for the loss of four wickets.
The first day was a disaster for Pakistan as they failed to annihilate the Zimbabwe batting line-up as the hosts ended the day after posting 245 runs on the board with Mawoyo on 82 and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Craig-Richard-Ervine-c51733 on 38 runs.
This was surely not what the Pakistan skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 had expected, who was perhaps expecting a better show from his bowlers as Pakistan went into the one-match Test series with an impressive bowling arsenal.
On the second day http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tino-Mawoyo-c2683 and Craig Ervine came out to bat to bolster their overnight scores in a bid to post a mammoth tally on the board to give Pakistan a tough time.
However, Ervine became the first causality of the day, when after playing an scoring 49 runs, the batsman was sent back to the pavilion by Pakistan’s pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Junaid-Khan-c77037 who caught and bowled the batsman in the 100th over of the Zimbabwean innings.
This partnership bolstered 94 runs and took the Zimbabwean tally to 270 runs, at this point in time the hosts were five wickets down with most part of the day still remaining.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GA-Lamb-c1450 was the next man in and he batted superbly well against the Pakistani bowlers, while on the other end Mawoyo was busy in clobbering runs.
The opener was obviously causing the Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq nightmares as he was making the visitors look amateurish in front of the hosts.
Pakistan needed the wicket of Mawoyo to halt the batting onslaught by the hosts; however, with almost three hundred runs on the board the Zimbabweans were looking in a comfortable position.
It was in the 136th over when Lamb after playing a commendable knock of 39 runs perished when he was given leg-before-wicket off a delivery bowled by spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859. At the time of his departure the hosts had managed to post 365 runs on the
board for the loss of six wickets.
However, with Mawoyo still batting at the other end, there was every chance for Zimbabwe to post a mammoth tally as the batsman clearly looked in exuberant form.
Nonetheless, Pakistan struck again after two overs when debutant http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azhar-Ali-c46890 after scoring six runs off 16 deliveries.
Later, Cheema annihilated the Zimbabwean tail as he took three more wickets completing a tally of four wickets in the first innings as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 finished after posting 412 runs on the board.
With a formidable tally at hand, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taufeeq-Umar-c92889 started the innings, aiming to retain wickets in hand to overcome the stupendous score.
However, on the last delivery of the second over, Pakistan suffered their first loss when Umar after posting just four runs on the board off nine deliveries lost his wicket when he was trapped right in front of stumps off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kyle-Malcolm-Jarvis-c71974.
After this wicket, the tourists prevented the hosts from grabbing anymore wickets as Hafeez and Azhar Ali played superbly well in reply to the bowling attack they were up against.
With Hafeez on 79 runs and Azhar on 27, Pakistan ended the day after posting 116 runs on the board.
To be continued ……………
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