Zimbabwe v Pakistan – 1st ODI – Match Recap
Pakistan 247 v Zimbabwe 242 -
Pakistan won by 5 runs
Pakistan managed to pull off a nerve-wracking victory against hosts Zimbabwe in the first One Day International (ODI) in the three-match series at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo. After marginally restricting Zimbabwe on 242 runs as the hosts tried to conquer
the target of 248 runs posted by the tourists.
After winning the toss, Pakistan chose to bat first, aiming to give http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Imran-Farhat-c64218 who made a comeback in the team after being discarded failed to impress anyone as he lost his wicket without scoring a run when
he edged a delivery bowled by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/T-Taibu-c2630.
With Farhat out of the way, opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Hafeez-c76898 and middle-order batsman Younis Khan forged a superb partnership and prevented Zimbabwe from taking anymore wickets as the batsmen scored runs at will.
The two batsmen put-up a partnership of 73 runs in the second wicket stand, however, in the 15th over Hafeeez after playing an innings of 26 runs off 49 deliveries was caught by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/P-Utseya-c2145.
It was then Younis and skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 who steered the side to a formidable total as the two veterans kept the score board ticking by making excellent shot selection.
However, in the 25th over Khan after playing a gem of an innings of 78 runs off 72 deliveries fell to his demise after getting run-out.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Malik-c90088 was the next man in; however, he could only score two runs before getting caught behind by Taibu off the bowling of Chigumbura. At the time of his departure Pakistan had managed to post 129 runs on the board for the loss of four wickets.
The flamboyant Umar Akmal then came on the crease to provide support to his skipper as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 rallied towards a big total.
Haq after scoring 54 runs off 64 deliveries was then given leg-before wicket in the 40th over off the bowling of Ray Price.
Later, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adnan-Akmal-c42042 played a commendable innings before losing his wicket in the 45th over after hammering 36 runs while Adnan scored 27 runs as Pakistan ended their innings.
Coming out to bat, Zimbabwe knew that they needed to keep wickets in hand and score maturely to win the match.
They suffered their first loss in the third over when opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sohail-Tanvir-c90665 when the team had managed to post only five runs on the board.
However, it was the partnership between Sibanda and skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/BRM-Taylor-c1200 that really gave Pakistan the hiccups as the two batsmen smashed 61 runs together.
The partnership was finally broken when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Aizaz-Cheema-c961 caught and bowled Sibanda who after playing a superb knock of 73 runs walked back to the pavilion.
Then Taylor and Tatenda Taibu almost took the side home when the two piled 60 runs in the fourth wicket partnership.
However, just when Zimbabwe had taken the score to 174 runs, Cheema struck again by taking the wicket of Taibu who after scoring 26 runs was caught by Younis http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319.
Later Cheema in the 49th over grabbed the wicket of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 who scored 84 runs off 103 deliveries as he was caught by Tanvir. In the end, the home side could only bolster 242 runs in response to Pakistan’s tally.
Pakistan’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325 was named as the Man of the Match for his astounding knock with the bat.
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