Pakistan defeat Zimbabwe in first ODI match

RAWALPINDI – Pakistan on Friday defeated Zimbabwe by 26 runs in the series-opening one-day international played at Pindi Cricket Stadium.

The visiting team managed to score 255 runs while chasing the target of 282 runs.

Earlier, captain Babar Azam had won the toss and elected to bat.

When Pakistan started batting, Abid Ali was the first to be sent back to the pavilion in the middle of the tenth over after scoring 21 runs. He was followed by Babar Azam and Imamul Haq who scored 19 and 58 runs, respectively.

Haris Sohail remained top scorer from Pakistan side by thrashing 71 runs off 82 balls while Fahim Ashraf made 23 scores.

Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani took two wickets while Carl Mumba claimed one wicket.

While chasing score, Zimbabwe’s opener Brain Chair was sent to pavilion at 2 runs only while Chibhabha made 13 runs before he was bowled out by Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Brendan Taylor remained top score in the innings with 112 runs. His batting helped Zimbabwe to robust but the team after his fall could make 255 runs.

Both teams are opening their World Cup Super League campaigns after the International Cricket Council introduced the competition to bring context to ODI cricket.