BULAWAYO: Imam-ul-Haq and Shadab Khan shared the spotlight as Pakistan stormed to a clinical 201-run rout of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in the opening game of their five-match One-day International series at the Queens Sports Club here on Friday.
Career-best efforts from opening batsman Imam, who scored his second ODI century, and leg spinner Shadab ensured that Pakistan kept control through both innings.
Imam cracked 128 from 134 balls to enable Pakistan collect 308 for seven before Shadab made short work of Zimbabwe’s lower order to pick up four wickets for 32 runs as the hosts were bowled out in the 35th over for a measly 107.
Imam was backed up by fellow left-hander Fakhar Zaman, who continued his good form with 60, and Asif Ali, who smashed a rapid 46 on his ODI debut to boost Pakistan’s total after they had been put in to bat under grey, wintery skies on Friday morning.
Pakistan started slowly with the bat. With the new ball nipping around Imam played and missed at several deliveries and was lucky to survive an edge off fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani, the ball dropping just in front of second slip.
But Imam gritted his way through the difficult patch, and, with Fakhar scoring fluently, Pakistan put on an opening stand of 113 in under 25 overs.
Fakhar brought up his fourth fifty of Pakistan’s tour but then hit a return catch to debutant off-spinner Liam Roche. Imam then shifted through the gears to bring up a 109-ball hundred in the 37th over. Imam was eventually dismissed after striking 11 boundaries.
Asif’s 25-ball innings included two sixes and four boundaries.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers struck back at the death with Tendai Chatara and Donald Tiripano picking up two apiece, as Pakistan lost five wickets in the last 10 overs.
The hosts were unable to sustain the battle with their bats. Pakistan’s seamers were disciplined with the new ball, and were rewarded with five top-order wickets inside the first 15 overs.
Ryan Murray, on debut, was the only Zimbabwean batsman to come to terms with Pakistan’s attack, compiling a tidy unbeaten 32, to help ensure Zimbabwe would at least pass 100, but with Shadab running through the lower order with four wickets the hosts still slumped to the lowest ODI total recorded at the Queens Sports Club.
“If the team performs well, the captain is definitely happy,” Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said after the match. “We could have got more runs in the end but there was overcast conditions.”
His Zimbabwean counterpart Hamilton Masakadza lamented lost of early wickets in the chase didn;t helped his team.
“I thought the seamers bowled well upfront and at the death, we lost it in the middle,” Masakadza said. “We had too many soft dismissals ... and you can’t chase 300 with that.”
The teams face each other again in the second match of the series at the same ground on Monday.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Imam-ul-Haq c Musakanda b Muzarabani 128
Fakhar Zaman c and b Roche 60
Babar Azam c Chibhabha b W Masakadza 30
Shoaib Malik c Murray b Tiripano 22
Asif Ali c Tiripano b Chatara 46
Faheem Ashraf c Chari b Chatara 0
Sarfraz Ahmed not out 13
Hasan Ali c Musakanda b Tiripano 0
Shadab Khan not out 2
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-2) 7
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 308
FALL OF WKTS: 1-113, 2-172, 3-235, 4-268, 5-287, 6-292, 7-295.
DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Amir, Usman Khan Shinwari.
BOWLING: Chatara 10-0-49-2 (1w); Muzarabani 10-1-56-1; Tiripano 10-0-66-2; Chibhabha 3-0-22-0; Roche 7-0-54-1; W Masakadza 10-0-56-1 (1w).
ZIMBABWE:
B.B. Chari c Fakhar b Usman 2
C.J. Chibhabha b Hasan 20
H. Masakadza c Fakhar b Usman 7
T.K. Musakanda c Malik b Faheem 21
P.J. Moor c Babar b Faheem 2
R. Murray not out 32
D.T. Tiripano b Shadab 12
L.N. Roche c Faheem b Shadab 4
W.P. Masakadza b Shadab 0
T.L. Chatara c Sarfraz b Shadab 5
B. Muzarabani b Shadab 0
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1) 2
TOTAL (all out, 35 overs) 107
FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-11, 3-45, 4-53, 5-55, 6-79, 7-91, 8-93, 9-106.
BOWLING: Mohammad Amir 7-1-21-1; Usman Khan Shinwari 5-1-21-2 (1w); Faheem Ashraf 5-0-14-2; Hasan Ali 4-2-6-1; Shadab Khan 9-0-32-4; Shoaib Malik 5-0-12-0.
RESULT: Pakistan won by 201 runs to lead five-match series 1-0.
UMPIRES: L. Rusere (Zimbabwe) and I.J. Gould (England).
TV UMPIRE: T.J. Matibiri (Zimbabwe).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Imam-ul-Haq.
NEXT MATCH: Bulawayo, Monday (12:15pm PST).
Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2018
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