All-round Nawaz denies spirited Zimbabwe
A spirited performance by Zimbabwe was not enough to cause an upset in the tri-series opener as Pakistan prevailed by five wickets in Rawalpindi. Chasing 148, Pakistan found themselves in deep trouble at 54/4 before their middle order stepped up to bail their side out of trouble and eventually secure a win with four balls to spare.
Brad Evans put the home side under pressure in the PowerPlay with two wickets in a single over. Pakistan had made only 27 runs in the first four overs of the game before Evans breached Sahibzada Farhan's defence. He then trapped Babar Azam LBW for a three-ball duck. To make matters worse, Pakistan also lost Salman Agha in the very next over as they were reduced to 31/3 in the powerplay. Graeme Cremer then dented them further with a wicket off just the third ball in his comeback as Zimbabwe found themselves in complete control at the halfway mark.
Usman Khan then joined forces with Fakhar Zaman to revive the chase. Struggling initially, Fakhar broke the shackles with a six and then he followed it up with another six and four off Cremer to slowly pull Pakistan back into the contest. Even though his charge was stopped in the next over, Nawaz came out and hammered a six off Evans to keep the momentum going. Both Usman Khan and Nawaz then eased the pressure with vital runs before the latter hit back-to-back boundaries to seal the deal.
Earlier in the evening, Zimbabwe couldn't capitalize on the start provided by their openers. Brian Bennett kickstarted the game with three boundaries in the opening two overs and Tadiwanashe Marumani slowly grew in confidence too. Bennett in particular kept dealing in boundaries and Marumani hammered a six in the final over of the powerplay as Zimbabwe raced to 59/0 after the first six overs. It needed a full toss from Nawaz for Pakistan to finally break the partnership. But with Brendan Taylor straightaway dealing with boundaries after his arrival, Zimbabwe looked well set to post close to 180.
However, Taylor's run out derailed the innings. With the well-set Bennett also getting himself dismissed in tame fashion for 49, the tide had suddenly changed. Pakistan took full control when Nawaz struck again in his final over to get rid of Ryan Burl as Zimbabwe collapsed dramatically from thereon with regular wickets. While Sikandar Raza was stranded at one end, the rest surrendered in meek fashion as Zimbabwe went from 72/0 to 128/8. A couple of boundaries and a six in the final two overs from Raza dragged them to 147/8 but that was just not enough on the day despite the impressive showing from their bowlers.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 147/8 in 20 overs (Brian Bennett 49, Sikandar Raza 34*; Mohammad Nawaz 2/22) lost to Pakistan 151/5 in 19.2 overs (Fakhar Zaman 44, Usman Khan 37*; Brad Evans 2/26) by 5 wickets
