Sun, 11 Sep 2011 - Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, Pakistan Tour of Zimbabwe 2011, 2nd ODI - Bulletin

Pakistan clinch series in style

Led by a sublime century from Mohammad Hafeez, Pakistan beat Zimbabwe comprehensively by ten wickets in the second ODI at Harare. In good batting conditions, Zimbabwe couldn’t find momentum at any stage in their 225 while as the visitors achieved the target without breaking into a sweat. Hafeez looked in superb touch in his 139 and come back man Imran Farhat played well for his 75 as the two raked up the highest opening partnership for Pakistan in the 50-over format.

The paltry target for Pakistan meant Zimbabwe needed wickets with the new ball to put pressure on the middle-order. Even though Vitori and Mpofu bowled with discipline early on, they were not able to provide the beak through. Only 9 runs came off the first five overs but Pakistan openers were good enough to accelerate after that. It was Imran Farhat who hit the first boundary but Hafeez was soon in his groove, pulling and driving the ball with aplomb.

The chase which seemed slow in the beginning got some impetus with boundaries coming fairly regularly. As the score moved along, Hafeez gained in confidence and hit the ball to all parts of the ground. With the regular drives, came out the sweep and the cut, though the swiveling pull was his bread and butter shot.

Imran Farhat, his partner, was not as fluent but played the perfect second fiddle to Hafeez in the big stand. To his credit, he did not try to match Hafeez but concentrated hard to hit the gaps combined with the odd boundary. The left hander’s first outing in the series had ended in a failure, this time around he seemed determined to make a mark in his come back series. Meanwhile, Hafeez got to his third century in one-dayers with a six, it was shot of a man supremely confident of his abilities. Before that, Farhat had also reached his fifty, albeit with a single.

With nothing happening for the bowlers, Zimbabwe seemed resigned to their fate and the winning runs fittingly came off Hafeez’s blade in the 43rd over. The two shared an undefeated 228 run stand as the two ended with 139 and 75 respectively.

Earlier, Zimbabwe despite a big partnership between Captain Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza could only manage 225 for 6 on a good batting surface after electing to bat. A sluggish start meant that the hosts needed some fire works at the death but Pakistan bowlers were accurate enough to limit the total to manageable proportions.

The Zimbabwe openers had to confront two left-armers, Sohail Tanvir and Junaid Khan, who made use of the early assistance in the track to trouble the batsmen. Justice Chibhabha was lucky to survive against Junaid as an attempted pull went over the keeper’s head, but perished against Tanvir for 9. His partner, Vusi Sibanda scratched around for 35-ball 14 before the pull shot led to his downfall yet again. At the end of the 15 powerplay overs, the hosts were tottering at 40 for 2.

With first change Aizaz Cheema giving nothing away, Zimbabwe had to work hard for their runs. When Hafeez and Ajmal were brought into the attack, the innings was expected to come to a grinding halt given the weakness of the Zimbabwean batting against quality slow bowling but Taylor and Masakadza kept the score board ticking over with smart placements and quick running.

The platform for a late charge had been laid as the two stretched the partnership for third wicket to 104. They were separated when Taylor was caught at third-man trying to uppercut a short ball after having made 50. His partner, however, continued even after getting to his half-century off 94 balls. He was joined by Tatenda Taibu and immediately the scoring rate was heading northwards due to his busy batting style. He hit three fours in as many overs before Masakadza launched Aizaz Cheema into orbit over cow-corner.

But, the half-centurion was run-out at a crucial stage on 68, just when Zimbabwe needed someone to direct the innings the settled man was gone. Taibu and Waller also fell in quick succession as the hosts had not crossed 200 in the 48th over. Although, Elton Chigumbura did end the innings on a high by scoring 14 off the last over to take the score to 225, still they seemed 25 runs short of the par total.