PAK vs ZIM | Twitter on the edge as Nawaz, Fakhar, and Usman power Pakistan to thrilling win against Zimbabwe

After being put into bat at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Zimbabwe had its foot on the pedal straight away, with opener Brian Bennett smashing two fours off the first three balls against Shaheen Afridi. The young batter also hit boundaries against Salman Mirza and Faheem Ashraf before his partner Tadiwanashe Marumani welcomed Saim Ayub into the attack with a six. With Bennett ending the spinner’s over with two more fours, the visitors sat pretty at 59/0 at the end of six overs. However, after having a go at Abrar Ahmed, Marumani was dismissed by Nawaz, against the run of play. And that opened up the floodgates for Zimbabwe as they slid wildly from 91/1 in the 11th over to 128/8. Bennett was unfortunate to miss out on a well-deserved half-century, getting out for 49 in 36 balls, after hitting eight fours. Meanwhile, captain Sikandar Raza’s unbeaten 24-ball 34, which included three fours and a six, took the side close to the 150-run mark. Nawaz was the pick among the home side’s bowlers with a tidy spell of 2/22 in four overs, with all the other bowlers except Faheem Ashraf picking up a wicket apiece.

In the chase, openers Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub started cautiously and were guilty of playing out 15 dot balls in the first four overs, though they hit three fours and a six, to reach 27/0. But medium pacer Brad Evans jolted the home side with the wickets of Farhan and Babar Azam in the fifth over. With Tinotenda Maposa sending back captain Salman Agha in the next over, the Men in Green were in deep trouble, ending the powerplay at 31/3.  Once the fielding restrictions were lifted, the visitors’ captain turned to spin and soon Graeme Cremer struck in the 10th over to end Ayub’s struggling stay in the middle, leaving the hosts with a tall ask of 92 runs from 60 balls. However, Fakhar Zaman, who came in at five, and Usman Khan kept their cool despite a couple of quiet overs to keep the hosts in the game with a vital fifth-wicket partnership. The wicketkeeper-batter punished anything short from Raza and Cremer, sending them to the mid-wicket fence, while Fakhar smashed two sixes in two overs to bring the required run rate close to eight. The southpaw had two fours and two sixes in his innings before being dismissed by Richard Ngarava in the last ball of the 16th over for a 32-ball 45. However, Usman remained unbeaten on 37 off 28 balls, with Nawaz applying the finishing touches with an entertaining cameo. The southpaw hit a six and two boundaries in his 12-ball 20 as Pakistan went past the target to finish at 151/5, with four balls to spare. For the visitors, Evans finished with figures of 2/26 in four overs, while Ngarava, Maposa, and Cremer had a wicket each.

What a win

Usman Khan with a match winning innings for Pakistan

— yang goi (@GongR1ght) 

Another one

Pakistan win … but credit to Zimbabwe to take the game to the last over … great fight 

— Shahid Hashmi (@hashmi_shahid) 

Superb win

Pakistan Win easily in the end.... Zimbabwe will be gutted, they should have Won that😬they blew that BIG time, their fielding was a shambles again!!!🤦‍♂️  

— BlueNoseBear⚽️🏏🐻💙 (@YouBearsssssss)