Pakistan 148 for 0 (Ayub 113*, Shafique 32*) bat Zimbabwe 145 (Myers 33, Williams 31, Abrar 4-33, Salman 3-26) by ten wickets
Pakistan made up for a lackluster performance in the first ODI with a near-perfect one in the second, crushing Zimbabwe by ten wickets to level the series. Opener Saim Ayub scored the fastest ODI hundred by any Pakistani other than Shahid Afridi, bringing up three figures in 53 balls as Pakistan cruised to the target of 146 with 32 overs to spare. It capped an all-round performance after Pakistan’s spinners put Zimbabwe on the back foot after being asked to bowl first, debutant Abrar Ahmed’s 4 for 33 the pick of the pack as Zimbabwe were bowled out in 32.3 overs.
It was clear that Zimbabwe had fallen well below par in the first innings, but Pakistan, having slumped to 60 for 6 in the first ODI, knew there was some work to be done when they were set a target, however modest. This time, however, there was no drama as the openings started bright and continued in the same style. Ayub led the way and his natural aggression neutered the early threat of Blessing Muzarabani and gave Abdullah Shafique room to work his way into form.
There were a few early jitters. Richard Ngarava drew a thick outside edge from Ayub that flew into the vacant second slip region, while an errant drive from Shafique found Sean Williams at backward point, only for the fielder to fire it away.
Now Ayub had begun to spin. Trevor Gwandu, the first change, was met with two cracking shots on the offside, followed up with a four and a six in his second over. The six brought up a 32-ball half-century for Ayub and he was still only in third gear.
There was not much the spinners could do in the absence of scoreboard pressure. Leg-spinner Brandon Mavuta was dispatched for three consecutive boundaries at the start of the 14th over. over, and leaked 47 in the four overs he bowled.
Sikandar Raza was also unable to be the handbrake he often is and Ayub picked him off at will. It was off him that Ayub got the boundary that took him to three figures. His understated celebration – a whipping of his helmet and a flash of a smile to the dressing room – didn’t quite capture the brilliance of the innings, but his clapping teammates in the pavilion knew he had done his job.
In the first innings, Pakistan’s spinners put in a dominant performance with the ball, bowling Zimbabwe out for 145. After winning the toss and batting first, Zimbabwe started brightly thanks to Dion Myers’ entertaining 30-ball 33, but lacked meaningful. contribution combined with discipline from Pakistan’s spinners meant that Zimbabwe could not get significant partnerships going.
Tadiwanashe Marumani and Joylord Gumbie were involved in the second run-out in as many matches to break the opening stand. Abrar Ahmed, who opened the bowling alongside Aamer Jamal, took a sharp turn to get rid of Gumbie for his first ODI wicket before Myers and Craig Ervine began to rebuild.
Ervine was quite content to let Myers be the aggressor and the 38 the two combined managed to get Zimbabwe back on something resembling level terms. But Salman Agha, perhaps the pick of Pakistan’s spinners on the day, caught Myers in front and pulled a nick from Ervine to keep Zimbabwe back and from there wickets fell at regular intervals.
Another rebuild, this time from Williams and Raza, was thwarted after Salman had Raza holed out offside to reduce Zimbabwe to 97 for 5. The lower-order collapse came when an attempted Williams reverse sweep by Ayub saw him caught in front and the rest fell in a heap.
Zimbabwe lost the last five wickets for 24 runs as Abrar returned to bowl his fourth while Faisal Akram cleaned up Muzarabani to end the innings. It looked well below par then and when Ayub finished it couldn’t have been clearer.
