Zimbabwe upsets Pakistan in last ball thriller; registers first victory of T20 World Cup 2022
The ongoing T20 World Cup has been full of upsets. Starting with a loss to Sri Lanka by the hands of Namibia, to West Indies’ failure to make it to the Super 12, and England’s loss against Ireland, it has had enough drama on offer.
And add another upset to the list as the hot favorite Pakistan succumbs against Zimbabwe in a thrilling encounter by the margin of 1 run.
It was a low scoring contest where Pakistan managed to restrict Zimbabwe for 129. Their pacer Mohammad Wasim Jr being the pick of bowlers got 4 wickets in his spell.
A complete failure of the batters for Zimbabwe saw them barely cross the 100 run mark. However, they somehow managed to push through to 130 runs in their 20 overs.
Considering the weather above and the pitch below, it should have been an easy sailing for Pakistan. But the Zimbabwean spirit was too strong for Pakistan to handle.
Pakistan’s top order fails again
They didn’t have the best of start ad had lost 3 wickets for the score of 36 in just 7.4 overs. Both their openers Babar and Rizwan departed early for a cumulative score of 18 runs.
Shan Masood, came one down, and tried to anchor the inning. He witnessed the wickets falling on the other end, and yet kept going strong.
Masood strung a 54 run stand for the fourth wicket with Shadab Khan. But Sikandar Raza with his leg spin found a way to break their partnership.
Sikandar Raza spins a web around Pakistan’s middle order
Raza then went on to pick 2 more wickets which included that of Shan Masood. This eventually resulted in a drastic collapse for Pakistan and they couldn’t recover.
From being 88 for 4 in 13th over, they failed to win the game as the Raza spun a web around them. Later the pacers like Ngarava, Muzarabani and Evans managed to restrict Pakistan for a score of 129 in the 20 overs.
The match went on till the final ball in which Pakistan required 3. With Shaheen Shah on strike, they failed to cross the line.
As a result, Zimbabwe registered their first victory in the T20 World Cup albeit by a small margin of 1 run.
Sikandar Raza was adjudged as the man of the match for his great bowling display of 3 wickets for 25 runs in 4 overs.
