Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 3rd ODI review: Bilal Asif's five wicket haul wraps Zimbabwe in the final ODI, clinch the series

Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 3rd ODI review: Bilal Asif’s five wicket haul wraps Zimbabwe in the final ODI, clinch the series: Off-spinning all-rounder Bilal Asif and his compatriot Imad Wasim put in a brilliant show with the bowl as Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe by seven wickets in the third and the final series decider match. The talented off-spinning all-rounder took a match-winning 5-25 and triggered a collapse in the Zimbabwe batting innings.

The Pakistani spinners, who took nine wickets amongst themselves in 18.5 overs, ensured that the Pakistani batsmen didn’t have to work hard to chase down the target lift the QMobile ODI series.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to put Zimbabwe to bat. The Zimbabwean openers, especially Chibhabha played with control and self-confidence. The openers stitched together a partnership of 89 runs before Chibhabha fell to Bilal Asif.

Chibhabha’s wicket was just the start of the downfall for the Zimbabweans. After a good start, they began to lose wickets in sequence and never recovered from there. Bilal Asif was their chief tormentor in the match. In no time, Asif got the wicket of Sikander Raza, Elton Chigumbura, Sean Williams and Mutombodzi.

The Zimbabwean innings was left in ruins as a result of the sudden loss of wickets in quick succession. This changed the overall course of the game in Pakistan’s favour.

Imad Wasim along with Shoaib Malik played the supporting role to Bilal and wiped off the lower middle order. They eventually finished for a paltry 161. In the midst of the collapse, Mutumbami stood steady and scored gutsy 67 off 141 balls.  His innings very crucial considering the inability of the Zimbabwe batsman to handle Pakistan’s bowling in today’s match.

With a relatively easy target of 162 runs to chase, Pakistan started with a cautious approach keeping in mind the top order failure in the last match.

The openers Ahmed Shehzad and Bilal Asif built a fifty run partnership. But, so after, Bilal Asif was removed by J Nyumbu. Hafeez, the next batman in, also could not create any impact as he also feels soon to Panyangara. Soon after, opener Ahmed Shehzad followed Hafeez to the pavilion after spending some time in the middle at the score of 32.

However, this did not affect the momentum of the of the chase. The pair of Asad Shafiq and last match’s saviour Shoaib Malik took control and helped Pakistan cruise to facile victory without any further hiccups.

Brief Scores

Zimbabwe: 161/10 (38.5 ov) (Mutumbami 67, Chibhabha 48, Bilal 5-25, Imad 3-36)

Pakistan:162 for 3 (34 ov) (Shafiq 38*, Bilal 38)

Pakistan won by seven wickets

Man of the Match- Bilal Asif

Man of the Series- Shoaib Malik