Azhar Ali, with the bat and his captaincy wins it for Pakistan- Pakistan v Zimbabwe 2nd ODI Review

Azhar Ali, with the bat and his captaincy wins it for Pakistan- Pakistan v Zimbabwe 2^nd ODI Review: It was the second ODI between Pakistan and Zimbabwe and the Pakistani skipper, Azhar Ali opted to field first on a somewhat dry wicket which was likely to offer something for the bowlers. The match ended up being a tight one with Zimbabwe giving a stern fight on the chase but ultimately ended up being on the losing side, quite similar to the other limited overs’ games in the series. Pakistan managed to win the game by a significant margin of 6 wickets.

As it happened, Mohammad Sami started off the proceedings for Pakistan while on the other hand it was Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha opened the innings for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was desperate for a victory and thus needed a settled start to pump their fuels up. And as a matter of fact, they decently managed the likes of Sami, Anwar Ali and Wahab Riaz well. The skipper shuffled his resources right in the initial overs to fetch the initial breakthrough. However, it took 17 overs to strike the first wicket of the Zimbabwe line up in the form of Sibanda. His shivering knock of 13 runs off 47 deliveries ended with a faster one from Mohammad Hafeez which struck right on to the stumps. The Zimbabwean skipper, Hamilton Masakadza came into the crease but the middle overs turned the tables in favour of Pakistan’s course. Back to back, the Pakistani bowlers clinched two wickets to force the Zimbabwean side into the back foot for yet another time. Being down for 122 for the loss of 3 wickets, it was Sikandar Raza who came into the crease and ultimately proved to hold the pivotal contributions in the game. It was developing as a decent partnership between Chibhabha and Raza but on a tragic note, Chibhabha had to depart at the score of 99, one short of scoring the ton. On a wayward delivery by Shoaib Malik, drifting down the leg, Chibhabha ended up falling in the hands of the wicket keeper, in an attempt to sweep the ball. It was a controversial decision though. It was their wicket keeper, Richmond Mutumbami, who came into the crease and assisted Raza in the partnership that was looking in swift pace and kept the scoreboard running. But the 53 run partnership ended on the 44^th over.

Wickets kept falling from one end but Raza managed to anchor things up for Zimbabwe. In the final over of the innings, Raza completed his century and Zimbabwe finished things off at a healthy total of 268 runs for the loss of 7 wickets with Raza remaining unbeaten on 100 off 84 deliveries.

Chasing down a total of 269 runs needed some anchoring performance. It was Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed, who opened the innings for Pakistan and a couple of handsome strokes right up in the initial overs started to ease things off for Pakistan. Just then, Sarfraz Ahmed was adjudged LBW on a straight delivery Chibhabha, who earlier became the first Zimbabwean to be dismissed for 99. Mohammad Hafeez strode in for the home team at Number 3 and started business right after his arrival by looking to build a steady partnership with the skipper. But it did not last long and Hafeez was dismissed right in the 15^th over making 2 down for Pakistan at the score of 68. The smiles seemed to fade away among the Pakistani fans as Zimbabwe were having the upper hand in the game’s course. Asad Shafiq came in next and did the exact thing which the doctor ordered for Pakistan. He built a decent partnership with the skipper and scored 39 off 59 when he was caught in the short cover region. The partnership contributed 83 runs and eventually turned out to be the game changing one.

Azhar Ali, on the other hand played a majestic knock. He played the innings which we call it a Captain’s knock. Opening the innings for Pakistan, Ali anchored the innings for them and went on to score a brilliant century. He scored 102 runs when he was dismissed in the 41^st over.

After Ali’s dismissal, there were two new batsmen at the crease and Zimbabwe had an outer chance to bounce back. But with 50 runs required off the last 50 deliveries, it was Shoaib Malik and Haris Sohail, who took cruise control of the game and with the aid of a fiery cameo from Malik with 36 runs off 20 deliveries, Pakistan reached to their target with 16 balls to spare.

Pakistan won the match by 6 wickets taking their lead in the series to 2-0.

Brief Score:

Zimbabwe: 268/7 in 50 overs (Chibhabha 99, Raza 100*, Yasir Shah 2/40)

Pakistan: 269/4 in 47.2 overs (Azhar Ali 102, HarisSohail 52*, Graeme Cremer 2/52 )