Pakistan stamped their authority over Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on Friday, winning the first of two Twenty20 matches by a huge 85 runs. Mohammad Hafeez was the star of the show, scoring 71 before taking four wickets. Pakistan raced to 198 for four — a record against Zimbabwe — with the highest previously set by South Africa with 194-6 at Kimberley last year.
Then they bundled out Zimbabwe for 113 in the 16th over, condemning the home side to a fifth successive loss to the tourists, who also won the one-off Test as well as three one-day internationals. Brendan Taylor won the toss for Zimbabwe and put Pakistan into bat. Hafeez and Asad Shafiq responded by racing to 34 in three overs and the tone was set with 10 boundaries struck off the first 27 balls. Shafiq’s 38 came off 34 balls and man-of-the-match Hafeez’s 71 required only 48. Near the end of the innings, when Pakistan were attempting to clear the 200 mark, Sohail Tanveer hit five balls off the last over available to him for 15 runs. Zimbabwe were never going to get close to the 199 set them for victory, and apart from Chamu Chibhabha’s 28 and Charles Coventry’s 30 there was next to no resistance.
The home side found themselves at two down for 13 and then 37 for three with the match already wrapped by Misbah Ul Haq’s side. Opener Vusi Sibanda’s dismissal came from a wonderful overhead catch by Misbah while the run-out of Tatenda Taibu by Hafeez was remarkable for speed and throwing accuracy. Pakistan play Zimbabwe again here on Sunday in the tour finale.
Zimbabwe’s fielding was not up to standard again and they let go of too many chances. Jarvis mistimed a catch off Rameez Raja at mid-on and Vusi Sibanda did the same thing in the next over, giving Hafeez another lifeline. Coventry was the only one with a solid pair of hands and he held on to a cross-batted shot from Hafeez that just did not have enough on it to go all the way. Rameez Raja did not live up to the hype. His 23 runs came mostly in singles and he struggled to time his shots. He was out lbw to Ray Price in the 17th over, allowing Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik the opportunity to finish strongly.
Both were dropped, Umar by Tatenda Taibu behind the stumps and Malik by Mpofu in his followthrough. Mpofu’s day only got worse when Umar slapped him for 15 runs in his penultimate over. Malik made little impact but Sohail Tanvir was destructive at the end. He was almost caught in the deep, but Sibanda had to abandon the catch when he was pushed over the boundary by his momentum. The mistake cost Zimbabwe 18 runs in the last over. With a massive task looming over them, Zimbabwe were overwhelmed but showed signs of greater intent than they have done previously in the series. Vusi Sibanda started with a stunning drive but his second aggressive stroke, off a length ball, saw him caught magnificently by Misbah-ul-Haq at mid-on.
