Pakistan vs Zimbabwe, 4th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

With Pakistan sealing their spot for the final, it's going to be a do-or-die affair for Sri Lanka when they face Zimbabwe next on Tuesday. Let's hope we get a cracker. Until then, good night and goodbye!!

Sikandar Raza | Zimbabwe skipper: If you are not evolving and thinking about your game, you’ll get found out. You have to stay ahead. When you lose three wickets in the powerplay, things only get tougher from there. There are lessons to take from today, just like the match against Sri Lanka. This almost sets up which team might face us in the final. As disappointing as this result is, the game is done now. We’ll regroup - I’ll get the boys together, and we’ll talk it through. But I believe there has to be accountability and responsibility. In my opinion, the way we’ve played spin in the last few games, even before the tri-series, isn’t good enough. We can’t continue like this, especially with the World Cup in Asia. If we don’t improve, we’re going to be in trouble. We need to regroup, watch the footage, and help each other. All we have is one another, like a family. So we’ll support each other and try to come up with better answers for the next game - and hopefully for the final.

Salman Agha | Pakistan skipper: It was perfect, that is what I wanted from my team yesterday and tonight. When you have 70 metres boundaries, runnning between the wickets is going to be really crucial and that is something we discuss in the team meetings. He is an X factor (talking about Usman Tariq) and that's how we want to use him. If we have a bowler like that who can create that kind of impact in the middle overs, we are always going to be on the winning side.

Usman Tariq | Player of the Match: I feel truly blessed and honored. I hope I can continue performing well in the future. It's hard to explain what I was feeling in that moment (pause during the delivery stride), but for me it feels quite natural. In spin bowling, the basics are key - your body needs to stay balanced and move forward. I’ve been working on that a lot, especially with my coaches, and it’s really helped. There’s a long process behind it (talking about control and variation). My coaches back in Peshawar - Aslam Qureshi and Zoya Khan - helped me a lot. They taught me that variation isn’t only about spin, but also about pace. Many bowlers don’t focus on that nowadays, so I’ve worked hard to control both. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it (talking about the shot off the hat-trick ball), but I’m thankful he (Wellington Masakadza) went for it. I have to give credit to Salman Ali Agha for the confidence he showed in me. He told me to bowl whatever I felt was right, and the field was set perfectly. I’m really happy.

Stats by Shashikant Singh

Pakistan spinners in this series
Overs: 30
Wickets: 14
Avg: 12.42
SR: 12.8
ER: 5.80
Dot%: 39.8

Pakistan’s bowling today
Pace: 3/86 in 11 overs, ER: 7.81
Spin: 6/39 in 8 overs: ER: 4.87

The 44-run stand between Burl and Ngarava is the joint second-highest 10th-wicket partnership in a match involving full-member teams, along with 44* between Barry McCarthy and Joshua Little (IRE) vs SA, Dublin (Malahide), 2021, and behind 50* between Santner and Duffy against West Indies at Auckland earlier this month.

21:24 local, 16:24 GMT, 21:54 IST: Zimbabwe not only recorded their highest ever 10th wicket partnership in a T20I, but also dragged themselves out of NRR trouble - all thanks to Ryan Burl's blitzkrieg. And, would you believe, only 2 double-digit scores in that 126 runs which included 4 extras. Both their openers got out in the space of 5 balls to pace, and the bleeding never stopped. Raza and Burl did well to gain some sort of control with a 26-run stand for the 4th wicket, and, once the skipper departed, Zimbabwe crumbled like a pack of cards. Ended up gifting 6 successive wickets to spin which included a career best for Usman Tariq who also became only the second Pakistan spinner to claim a hat-trick in T20I cricket. Burl threw caution to the wind and smashed a few towards the end, helping his side reduce the defeat margin eventually. Stick around for the post-match reactions....

Mohammad Wasim to Ryan Burl, THATS OUT!! Run Out!!