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SHARJAH (United Arab Emirates), April 3: Abdul Razzaq and Younis Khan slammed contrasting half-centuries as a new-look Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 68 runs in the opening match of the four-nation Sharjah Cup on Thursday.
All-rounder Razzaq cracked a blistering 76 while Younis weighed in with a solid 67 as Pakistan recovered from a poor start to post a challenging 278 for seven from their 50 overs.
Zimbabwe needed a good start to keep pace with the required run rate, but their batsmen faltered in the face of a disciplined Pakistan attack and folded to 210 in 44.1 overs.
Only Douglas Marillier offered real resistance, scoring 59 off 73 balls with eight fours, but others failed to negotiate tight spells from debutant seamer Umar Gul, Razzaq, Danish Kaneria and Mohammed Hafeez who shared eight wickets.
Grant Flower needed 14 runs to reach 6,000 runs in one-day cricket, but fell short of the milestone by just one run when he was dismissed by Kaneria for 13.
Sean Ervine (30), Andy Blignaut (24) and Dion Ebrahim (31) delayed the inevitable but Zimbabwe were never in contention. New Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif, playing his 150th match, could not have asked for a better performance from a team playing its first match since eight big names were dropped.
Earlier, Pakistan rode on half-centuries from Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq to pile up 278-7 from 50 overs.
Razzaq smashed seven sixes and two boundaries as Pakistan hammered 96 runs in the last 10 overs to set Zimbabwe a challenging target of 5.6 runs an over under lights.
Newly-appointed captain Rashid Latif chipped in with 34 during a sixth-wicket stand of 58 with Younis. Pakistan took the field without eight senior players, including veterans Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who were sacked following a dismal World Cup last month where they were knocked out in the first round.
Pakistan’s first outing with the experimental side began disastrously as Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak removed openers Taufiq Umar and debutant Mohammad Hafeez in his first spell.
Naved Latif and Yousuf Youhana also fell cheaply and it was left to Younis to steer his side out of trouble and set the stage for Razzaq’s onslaught.
Razzaq plundered 24 runs in one over from Sean Ervine, including three sixes, and 23 in the final over bowled by Douglas Hondo.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Taufiq Umar b Streak 16
Mohammad Hafeez c Taibu b Streak 12
Naved Latif b Blignaut 3
Yousuf Youhana c Taibu c Ervine 17
Younis Khan c Ervine b Blignaut 67
Shoaib Malik run out 13
Rashid Latif run out 34
Abdul Razzaq not out 76
Mohammad Sami not out 11
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-24, NB-1) 29
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 278
FALL OF WKTS: 1-32, 2-38, 3-50, 4-69, 5-101, 6-159, 7-203.
DID NOT BAT: Danish Kaneria, Umar Gul.
BOWLING: Streak 10-1-31-2 (4w); Blignaut 10-0-50-2 (13w); Hondo 10-0-60-0 (1nb, 1w); Ervine 4-1-36-1 (1w); Marillier 7-0-43-0 (1w); Flower 4-0-27-0; Rennie 5-0-27-0 (4w).
ZIMBABWE:
C.B. Wishart c Rashid b Umar Gul 8
D.A. Marillier b Kaneria 59
T.J. Friend c Taufiq b Umar Gul 9
G.W. Flower c Hafeez b Kaneria 13
D.D. Ebrahim lbw b Razzaq 31
G.J. Rennie lbw b Hafeez 11
A.M. Blignaut b Hafeez 24
S.M. Ervine run out 30
T. Taibu b Sami 1
H.H. Streak c Rashid b Razzaq 7
D.T. Hondo not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-6, W-2, NB-9) 17
TOTAL (all out, 44.1 overs) 210
FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-47, 3-87, 4-104, 5-121, 6-152, 7-194, 8-197, 9-208.
BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 7-0-34-1 (5nb); Umar Gul 7-2-25-2; Abdul Razzaq 7.1-1-36-2 (2nb); Danish Kaneria 9-1-38-2 (1w); Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-41-2 (1w); Shoaib Malik 4-0-30-0 (2nb).
RESULT: Pakistan won by 68 runs.
UMPIRES: B. Doctrove (West Indies) and A.V. Jayaprakash (India).
TV UMPIRE: K.C. Barbour (Zimbabwe).
MATCH REFEREE: A.M. Ebrahim (Zimbabwe).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Abdul Razzaq.
FRIDAY’S MATCH: Pakistan v Sri Lanka.—Reuters/AFP
