Pakistan won their first group match by beating Zimbabwe in a close match to get their first points on the board.

By PakPassion Staff (1st March, 2015)

Pakistan 235/7 in 50 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 73, Wahab Riaz 54, Mohammad Irfan 30-4, Wahab Riaz 45-4)

Zimbabwe 215 in 49.4 overs (Brendon Taylor 50, Elton Chigumbura 35, TL Chatara 35-3)


Toss:

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

Pakistan Innings:

Pakistan started their innings with Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad but the start was poor as usual with Nasir Jamshed getting out in the second over for the score of 1. Chatara and Panyangara both looked good with the new ball as they generated swing and bounce early on. Haris walked in at no.3 but Shehzad was the next to fall in the 4th over as he fell on a duck to a beautiful out-swinger by Chatara.

Score was 4/2 when Misbah arrived, Both Haris and Misbah dropped anchor and scored at snails pace to take the scoreboard to 58 before Haris played a loose shot on the score of 27. Umar Akmal walked in next a no.5. Along with his captain, the two had a great stand of 69 runs where they scored more freely and looked at ease before Umar Akmal was bowled by a peach of delivery by Williams on the score of 33. Pakistan were 127/4 when Afridi arrived on the crease but the birthday boy did not trouble the scorers as Williamstook another prize wicket when he bowled Afridi also in the same over.

Maqsood arrived at no.7 and set off with some quick boundaries but played too many shots and got caught and bowled by Mupariwa for 21 runs. Score was 155/6 when Wahab arrived. Misbah remained steady on the other end and added 47 run with Wahab to the team's total before he fell short of his first One Dayhundred again as he was caught on 73 off the bowling of Chatara. It was then left to Wahab to play a fighting knock of 54 from the other end and drag the total to 235/7 after the finish of 50 overs.

Zimbabwe Innings:

Chamu Chibhabha and Sikander Raza started things off for Zimbabwe as they faced Mohammad Irfan and Sohail Khan. Chibhabha hit 2 fours in 2 overs of Sohail before Irfan removed him early with a bouncer on the score of 9. Score was 4/1 when the in-form Masakadza arrived but Irfan struck again in his next over when he also bounced out Sikander for 8.

Score was 22/2 when Brendan Taylor walked in and the two batsmen took their time and a number ofdeliveries to build their partnership until Masakadza played an aerial shot to Irfan which was safely taken by Misbah. Score was 83/3 when Williams arrived. He tried to ease the run rate pressure with a couple of quick boundaries with Zimbabwe now starting toscore at a very healthy run rate of 7. Meanwhile, Taylor reached his half century before he got dismissed by Wahab Riaz for for 50.



Score was 128/4 when Craig Ervine arrived and 22 runs more were added during their stand before the danger man Williams played a loose shot at point straight into Shehzad's hands for 33. Zimbabwe were 150/5 when Solomon Mire walked in but his stay was short as he went quickly when he edged Irfan's delivery to Keeper for 8. That brough Elton Chigumbura but Ervine was the next wicket to fall when he edged Wahab's delivery to ‘keeper. Tawanda Mupariwa walked in but went first ball off Wahab in exactly the same fashion.

Score was 168/8 and Panyangara was next and it appeared that Zimbabwe had an outstanding chance of an upset victory over Pakistan . The two tried their level best to take their team home and dragged the game to the last over where they needed 23 runs but first Panyangara got run out and then Chigumbura fallto Wahab, thus ending the chase on 215 with Zimbabwe losing by 20 runs.

Summary:

Although the margin of victory may not show it, the fact remains that Pakistan will consider this victory a lucky escape. The manner in which the top order capitulated to Zimbabwe’s bowlers does not augur well for the ’92 World Cup winners. Whilst Pakistan took a brave decision to drop Younis Khan for this game, the inclusion of Nasir Jamshed was questionable and his batting and fielding performance today seemed to justify that point of view. Pakistan will need to seriously consider the inclusion of Sarfraz Ahmed in the next game against UAE – playing with an unchanged combination can only spell trouble.

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