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Pakistan clinch series with 2-1 after beating Zimbabwe in final T20I

Pakistan clinch series with 2-1 after beating Zimbabwe in final T20I
April 25, 2021

HARARE (92 News) - Pakistan beat the Zimbabwe by 24 runs in T20I series finale at HARARE on Sunday and clinched series with 2-1.

The Men In Green set a target of 166 runs for Zimbabwe and restricted them to 141 runs by the end of the match. Zimbabwe's fifth wicket against Pakistan fell off at 133 runs.

Mohammad Rizwan played an excellent knock of 91 runs off 60 balls while Babar Azam scored 52 to help Pakistan set 166-run target.

Pakistan’s reliance on its top-order to do the bulk of the scoring has left them exposed to middle-order implosions that failed to take the team over the line with Mohammad Hafeez, Asif Ali, and Faheem Ashraf finding it difficult to regain form. 

Zimbabwe rectified basics coming into the second game from the first defeat. An improved fielding and bowling performance while maximizing on opportunities sourced by Pakistan’s mistake on the field yielded an ideal result for them.

Remember the last time:

Zimbabwe pulled off their first-ever win over Pakistan in 16 attempts by defending a below-par total of 118. The bowlers rose to the occasion in a historic fightback that bundled out Pakistan for 99 with Babar Azam as the highest run-scorer with 41 which came in 45 balls.

Luke Jongwe starred with the ball to help Zimbabwe level the series with his impressive returns of 4/18.

What they said:

Babar Azam (Pakistan Captain): “The batting needs to step up. The T20 World Cup is coming and we need to resolve these issues. Hopefully, we make a comeback in the next game and in all the future T20s we will look to play with our best combination.”

Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe Captain): “As a batting unit, we need to fire a little more in the powerplay. We feel they're a stronger bowling unit than a batting unit, and if we get 140-150, we can challenge them." –ICC