BULAWAYO – Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by two wickets in the third and final T20I of three-match series in Bulawayo on Thursday.
Chasing a 133-run target for a consolation win in the lost T20I series, Zimbabwe achieved the milestone on the penultimate ball with two wickets in hand.
Player of the match Brian Bennett (43) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (15) provided a solid start with a 40-run opening partnership. Bennett stitched another 33-run partnership with Dion Myers (13) to raise the hope of an upset victory for the hosts. Zimbabwe batters kept the asking rate within grasp despite losing wickets at regular intervals during the second half of the innings that enabled the home side to achieve the target in the last over.
Sikandar Raza scored 19 runs while Tindotenda Maposo contributed 12. Abbas Afridi bagged three wickets and Jahandad Khan two while Sufiyan Muqeem and Salman Agha got one wicket each. Ryan Burl was run out.
Sufiyan Muqeem was named player of the series.
After wining the toss and opting to bat first, Pakistan lost three top order batters in the first four overs with just 19 runs on the board.
Skipper Salman Agha (32) and Tayyab Tahir (21) steadied the ship by stitching a 33-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Agha put on another 30-run partnership with Qasim Akram (20) to take the team score to 82. Arafat Minhas and Abbas Afridi contributed 22 and 15 respectively to help the team reach 132/7 in the allocated 20 overs.
Pakistan has made three changes in the Playing XI that beat Zimbabwe in the last T20I.
Pakistan Playing XI: Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Usman Khan (wk), Salman Ali Agha (c), Tayyab Tahir, Qasim Akram, Arafat Minhas, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Sufyan Moqim
Zimbabwe Playing XI: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Clive Madande, Tashinga Musekiwa, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, Tindotenda Maposo
