(ESPNCRICINFO) – Zimbabwe fell 12 runs short of beating Pakistan in a T20I for the first time after being well placed in chasing 150. A third 56-wicket stand between Tinashe Kamunhukamwe and Craig Ervine put Zimbabwe at 77 for 2 in the 11th over but masterstroke Babar Azam’s use of spin-off Mohammad Hafeez, having bowled only one over in 14 T20Is since November 2018, triggered a collapse. Zimbabwe then lost 4 for 18 in 18 balls and left the lower order too much to do. Nearly 30 balls off 23 Luke Jongwe pulled off a coup but Haris Rauf defended 20 off the last to give Pakistan the lead the series. Pakistan’s total was built almost alone by Mohammad Rizwan, who raised his fifth score of 50 runs or more in his last eight T20I flyovers, and made 82 of their 149. No one else contributed more than 15 runs.
Pakistan had particular trouble against Zimbabwean spinners – Wellington Masakadza and Wesley Madhevere, who conceded 32 runs in five overs between them – and will continue to look for solutions to make their middle order tick.
Zimbabwean failures and one hot thing
High catches bypassed Zimbabwe which gave two chances down inside the powerplay that could have changed the look of the pubs in Pakistan. After Azam’s early dismissal, Zimbabwe had a chance to eliminate Rizwan at 13 when he reached the top of a draw off Richard Ngarava in the fifth over. Kamunhukamwe had to dive forward to seize the opportunity but almost fell for his efforts. In the next step, Fakhar Zaman drove from the air to the center of where Sean Williams was located. He had to backpedal to get to the ball and he did but it exploded through his hands. Zaman’s collapse cost only seven runs but Rizwan went on to 82. Unbeaten. More opportunities came. But they still went down. Over and over, Hafeez offered Masakadza back custody but the left-arm spinner struggled to raise the ball at the height of his head. At the beginning of the 13th over, Richmond Mutumbami handed down regulation custody off the Aziz Danish border.
In all of that, Zimbabwe managed to pull off fatigue. Ngarava timed his jump in the short third man perfectly when Hafeez tried to hit a short and wide ball over the field and failed to get enough. Ngarava took custody of the right and held his grip even as his elbows hit the ground when he landed.
Rizwan’s last burst
Having restricted Pakistan to 96 for 4 in 15 overs, Zimbabwe would have been eyeing their detention to around 130 and almost getting there. They did not surrender any boundaries in headings 16, 17, 18 or 19 but Rizwan corrected that with a final burst.
He waited for Ngarava’s slower ball and cut the gap between the referee and cover point, then flew from the air over cover before Ryan Burl cut it off to make it only two runs, but then cleared the corner of the cow despite a good effort to take. the catch and find forty through the covers and the slim leg to pull 20 off the final over.