Pakistan Bowlers Fight Back to Restrict Zimbabwe Total

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan's spinners delivered tight bowling spells that kept Zimbabwe from putting up a strong score in the opening game of the T20I tri-series at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Pakistan decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Zimbabwe reached 147 for 8 in 20 overs. That came even with a decent opening.

The Zimbabwe openers Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani put together a solid seventy-two-run stand in only eight overs. They played quickly right from the power play. Both of them scored briskly during that phase. They even scored 13 runs off the first over from captain Shaheen Afridi.

The duo attacked the fast bowlers, using the field restrictions well. They took 11 off Saim Ayub’s fifth over and 17 off Abrar Ahmed’s sixth. This resulted in the visitors being 59/0 at the end of the power play.

The game changed when spinner Mohammad Nawaz came into the attack. He slowed the scoring and broke the stand by removing Marumani. Marumani was out after hitting three fours and a six in his 30 from 22 balls.

Then the second wicket came soon after. Brendan Taylor fell as the next one out. It happened because of a mix-up on the run. That led to a sudden drop in momentum and stopped Zimbabwe from building further. Taylor departed after scoring 14. As a result, they were reduced to 91-2 in 11 overs.

After the first ten overs, the Green Shirts put the brakes on the visitors’ scoring rate and never allowed them to recover. Brian Bennett was the star batsman for Zimbabwe, finishing as the top-scorer with 49 from 36, laced with eight fours.

Mohammad Nawaz took two wickets. Abrar Ahmed got one. Saim Ayub claimed the other one.

Pakistan XI: 1 Sahibzada Farhan, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Salman Ali Agha (capt), 5 Usman Khan (wk), 6 Fakhar Zaman, 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 10 Mohammad Salman Mirza, 11 Abrar Ahmed

Zimbabwe XI: 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Ryan Burl, 3 Sikandar Raza (capt.), 4 Bradley Evans, 5 Brendan Taylor (wk), 6 Tadiwanashe Marumani, 7 Tashinga Musekiwa, 8 Tony Munyonga, 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Tinotenda Maposa, 11 Richard Ngarava