BULAWAYO: After outplaying Zimbabwe in the second ODI by nine wickets on Monday, Pakistan now look forward to taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series by winning the third game in Bulawayo on Wednesday.

With less than a year to go before the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales, teams are looking to fine tune their preparations for the showpiece. Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur and captain Sarfraz Ahmed have previously said it’s more than just a series win they want to take from Zimbabwe, but also the opportunity to see what other players can bring to the table.

But while Sarfraz reiterated the idea that some changes could be made, he hinted in his post-match press conference that there will be no changes until the series is all but won.

“There are chances of a couple of teams shuffling but first we want to win the series,” said the skipper.

That means spinner Yasir Shah, who hasn’t played an ODI since August 2016 against England, may have to wait for his chance with teenager leg-spinner Shadab Khan likely to keep his place despite going wicketless on Monday.

The hosts must be getting sick and tired of facing Pakistani opener Fakhar Zaman who is in prime form these days. Including the T20 tri-series involving Australia, left-handed Fakhar has scored two half-centuries and a ton, which came in the second ODI,

against Zimbabwe already on this tour. It could have been three fifties but he missed that milestone by three runs in the T20I. Most importantly those efforts have come in winning efforts and with 455 runs scored on Zimbabwe soil already on this tour, the 28-year-old is clearly a man to watch out for.

It’s integral that if Zimbabwe want to pull off an unlikely victory, captain Hamilton Masakadza will need his bowlers to raise their game and put Zaman under constant pressure to get Pakistan’s danger man out early.

If Shadab proved to be the wrecker-in-chief with the ball in the opening ODI with figures of 4-32, then it was the pace duo of Hasan Ali (3-32) and Usman Khan (4-32) who did the damage in the second match.

The good news was that Zimbabwe fared much better with the bat on Monday with captain Hamilton Masakadza and Peter Moor hitting half-centuries. It was a vast improvement from the first ODI where Ryan Murray’s unbeaten 32 was the hosts’ highest score.

Zimbabwe coach Lalchand Rajput will be hoping it’s the start of things to come for the rest of the series and that other batsmen can step up.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2018