HARARE (Staff Report) – Pakistan cricket team on Sunday defeated Zimbabwe by 13 runs in first T20 game at Harare Sports Club.
While chasing a 137 runs target Zimbabwe team could score 123 runs in the given twenty overs.
Pakistani bowler Imad Wasim dismissed four batsmen for 11 runs only, making it his best performance. Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz bowled one player each .
Zimbabwe’s Chigumbura was only batsman to stay on pitch for some longer time. He scored 31 runs.
Shoaib Malik remained the most prominent Pakistani batsman who scored 35 runs off 24 balls. Muhammad Rizwan and Imad Wasim also contributed 33 and 19 runs respectively.
Zimbabwe’s Chibhabha picked three wickets while Panyangara, Jongwe, Cremer and Williams took one wicket each.
Earlier Pakistan elected to bat first after winning the toss.
Skipper Shahid Afridi speaking after winning the toss said the pitch could be a little slow and hence 160-170 runs will be a good total. “We have some time before the world T20 so we want to try some experiments and give chances to some youngsters,” he said.
Pakistan is scheduled to play two T20 and three ODI matches against Zimbabwe in the 12 day tour. All the matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club.
Here the playing XIs of both teams
Zimbabwe XI: Chibhabha, Raza, Masakadza, Ervine, Williams, Chigumbura (capt), Mutumbami (wk), Jongwe, Utseya, Cremer, Panyangara.
Pakistan XI: Shehzad, Mukhtar Ahmed, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi (Capt), Imad Wasim, Rizwan (wk), Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Imran Khan.
