4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

Top Contributors
C

cleazer

Guest
4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

Pakistan already won the series 3-0.

Zimbabwe batted first today. They started off very slow, but at 12-2 Taibu and Williams came in and got a big partnership going.

Zimbabwe eventually finished 244 all out in the final over, but there was an interesting run out of Gary Brent in the 46th over. The throw from the fielder came back in and Afridi caught it and had Brent beat by a decent margin, but in the middle of his motion to whip off the bails, Afridi hesitated, just two or three inches from the bails, before finally knocking them off.

Replays seemed to show that Brent was just barely safe, thanks to Afridi's hesitation, but everyone thought he was out so they didn't even bother calling for the third umpire to look at the tv replays. Weird stuff. He shouldn't have been out, even though everyone on the field thought he was, but even more weird was Afridi's bizarre hesitation just inches away from dislodging the bails.

Strange.


Anyway, Pakistan's chase is about to get underway. Zimbabwe has set a decent target today, they might have a chance to defend it.
 
Re: 4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

Pakistan going along fairly well.

They're 89-2 after 20 overs.

Though if Zimbabwe can pick up another few wickets, they'd still have a pretty good shot at winning this match. But for now though, Pakistan is doing exactly what they need to do.
 
Re: 4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

Good to see that the Zimbos are putting up a fight, but Pakistan still look to be very much in control.
 
Re: 4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

139-2 after 30 overs

Yousuf and Shoaib Malik are going along quite nicely here.
(with scores of 43 and 62 currently)

The required rate is still well under six per over. Unless Zimbabwe can take a whole bunch of wickets real fast, I think it's going to be safe to put this one in Pakistan's column pretty soon.
 
Re: 4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

Pakistan have gone up a gear here, they've raced to 2/165, 30 runs have come off the last four overs.

Yousuf has reached his 50 too, he is up to 58 now, Mailk is on 72.

Zimbabwe can't cope with Pakistan's increase in intensity at the moment. Just reading the cricinfo commentary though, there's a lot of Zimbabwe supporters e-mailing in. They are rather happy with their team's progress of late, they've showed some decent improvement. At least they can say they've been competitive, which they have.
 
Re: 4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

196-2 after 38

Just need about 4 per over here. Malik and Yousuf are both closing in on their centuries.
 
Re: 4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

Malik runs himself out for 88. Hit Brent straight to midwicket and set off for a run but Yousuf sent him right back but Mailk couldn't get back in time.

3/207 after 40 overs.
 
Re: 4th ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Faisalabad

All over, Pakistan reach 3/245 off 47 overs, an easy cruise to a seven wicket victory.

Yousuf finished on 108 not out with Fawad Alam on 12.

Only Chris Mpofu and Elton Chigumbura could take wickets for Zimbabwe. Chingumbura was also responsible for the run out of Shoaib Malik.

Zimbabwe are just lacking that spark in the batting department and a fifth bowler. Their batting performance today wasn't too bad but it was about 30 short of a really competitive total. They really needed someone to make a big score, Taibu got 51 and Williams 48 but no-one else from the top order made significant contributions. If it wasn't for Keith Dabengwa's brisk 35 at the end, they would struggled to have scored 220.

Zimbabwe also used eight bowlers today. Brent, Mpofu and Price all bowled 10 and Chigumbura bowled eight (Chigumbura probably would have bowled overs 48 and 50). But four others were used to bowl nine overs and all conceded 5.75 an over or more. Zimbabwe needs to find a fifth bowler for their line-up, otherwise these part-timers will get more and more expensive once Pakistan and other countries play their stronger line-ups against this Zimbabwean side.

Zimbabwe were alright today but they are still not in the same class as this Pakistan line-up, which is missing quite a few of its star players. There were two debutants today in the Pakistan side, Sohail Khan and Khalid Latif. Khan was also making his List A debut today also. He has played ten first class games previously and has taken 68 wickets at the impressive average of 19.41. Look out for this guy in the future.

So, Pakistan take a 4-0 lead with one game remaining. They'll be looking for the whitewash while Zimbabwe will want to at least win one game in this series.

Shoaib Malik was Man of the Match for his 88 and 3/55.

The fifth and final game is on February 2 at Sheikhupura.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top