Pakistan tour of Zimbabwe 2021 News

Pakistan completed a 2-0 whitewash against Zimbabwe after they thrashed the African minnows by an innings and 147 runs. Right from Day 1, there never came a situation where Zimbabwe got any sort of momentum either in the batting or the bowling front. Eventually, it was a clinical bowling display on the second and third day from Pakistan which resulted in a convincing victory for them. Also for the first time in history, two left-arm pacers from Pakistan took all the ten wickets in the sec0nd innings. The toss turned out to be an important factor for Pakistan. Babar Azam didn’t have any hesitations batting first and there was no way back for them. Riding on a sensational double century from the blade of Abid Ali and a century from Azhar Ali, Pakistan posted a mammoth 510 on the board in their first innings. For Zimbabwe, it was a fiery spell from Blessing Muzarabani which fetched him three wickets. However, he wasn’t quite consistent for longer periods of time. The only blip up for Pakistan remains Babar Azam’s return in this series. He fell after scoring just two but a partnership of 236 runs between Abid Ali and Azhar Ali had already set the tone for Pakistan. To top it off, it was a sensational 8th wicket partnership between Hasan Ali and Nauman Ali which took Pakistan beyond the 500 mark. Zimbabwe was never up to the mark in either of the innings. They were not ready to play the waiting game and kept giving away their wickets cheaply to the Pakistan bowlers. Hasan Ali was the star for Pakistan with the ball in the first innings bagging yet another fifer for his country. He bowled deadly lines and the Zimbabwe batsmen kept succumbing one after the other. Regis Chakabva was the top scorer for Zimbabwe with 33 as they were skittled out for a meagre 132 runs in just a shade over 60 overs. Barring Hasan Ali, Sajid Khan also bagged a couple. There was no hesitation in Babar Azam’s mind on enforcing the follow on. Zimbabwe was a tad better in the second innings but was nowhere close to avoiding the innings defeat. The pair of Shaheen Afridi Nauman Ali was the two wreckers in chief bagging fifers apiece. Chakabva again looked composed in the middle and was the highest scorer again with a knock of 80. A partnership of 80 off runs with Brendan Taylor settled the nerves a bit but from there on, the two left-arm pacers tightened the screws around the Zimbabwe batsmen as wickets kept falling on a consistent basis. Eventually, they were bundled out for 231, handing Pakistan an innings victory.

The Pakistani team remains just one wicket away eve after grinding a whole day of play at the Harare Sports Club in Harare to get hosts Zimbabwe all out twice, to finish the second and last game of the series on day three of the Test match itself. Having enforced follow on after getting Brendan Taylor’s side out for 132 in the first innings, the Pakistani bowlers couldn’t run through the defences of the top order as easily as in the last innings. In fact, Regis Chakabva and skipper Taylor made a good case of themselves, going for the attack and scoring some important runs. However, they threw their wickets away to some unnecessary shots. While wicket-keeper batsman Chakabva is once again the top scorer with the bat, scoring his fifth Test half-century (80 off 137 balls), Taylor missed out on what could have been his 11th Test fifty by a solitary run. The 9 run partnership between the duo has so far been the highest in this innings for the Chevrons. For Pakistan, Nauman Ali and Shaheen Afridi were the picks of the bowlers in the second innings, sharing between them all the nine wickets that have fallen so far. While 34-year-old Nauman got rid of dangerman Chakabva and the rest of the middle order, Shaheen, having picked Taylor and Tisarai Musakanda early on, came back late in the day to pick two quick wickets to rattle the Zimbabwe lower order. He almost raised a glimmer of hope in the fielding unit that they might not have to come back another day and the game would be done and dusted today itself. However, it wasn’t to be as Zimbabwe remained 220-9 at the end of the day’s play. Luke Jongwe (31*), playing his maiden Test stood there for the last five overs of the day alongside number 11 Blessing Muzarabani, forcing Pakistan to come back tomorrow and have another go. Jongwe on the other hand would try and get as many runs as possible for himself and the team. Earlier in the day, Hasan Ali wreck havoc on the Zimbabwe lineup with his in swing and control over the ball. The 26-year-old picked four of the six Zimbabwean wickets to fall on the morning of May 9. Backed by the best bowling figure in his Test career, Pakistan bundled out Zimbabwe for 132. Debutant Sajid Khan picked was the second-highest wi ket taker in the innings with two scalps.

Pakistan continued their dominance against Zimbabwe in the second Test in Harare after bundling out the home side for 132 in the first innings on the third day to take a mammoth 378-run lead. Beginning at 52/4, the hosts only managed to add 80 more runs to their overnight total before getting bowled out. Riding on Hasan Ali’s career-best figures of 5/27 in 13 overs and some fine piece of fielding in the middle, Pakistan rattled the Zimbabwean batting line up. The right-arm bowler completed his fifer, courtesy, a brilliant catch from Azhar Ali in the gully region. Roy Kaia just negotiated a quick, outside off-stump ball towards the off-side that carried to Azhar in a swift manner but he did manage to hold on to it to Ali his fifth wicket. This was the 26-year old's fourth five-wicket haul in the last five innings. In total, he has picked up 24 wickets in those innings at a phenomenal average of 9.58. Apart from Ali, Sajid Khan scalped a couple of wickets while Shaheen Afridi and Tabish Khan picked up a wicket apiece. Wicket-keeper batsman Regis Chakabva top-scored for the hosts with 33 while Donald Triapno chipped in with 23. The Babar Azam-led side en-forced a follow-on after Zimbabwe were all out in the first session of the day itself. Earlier, Pakistan had posted 510/8 (D) in the first innings after Abid Ali notched up his maiden double-century in Tests while Azhar Ali struck a fine century during the course. Apart from these two, Nauman Ali fell short of a well-deserved hundred after he was dismissed for 97. Pakistan lead the two-match Test series 1-0 after they defeated Zimbabwe in the first encounter by an innings and 116 runs while they also won the three-match T20I series 2-1.

It was Abid Ali’s day at the Harare Sports Club in Harare as he hit his maiden double century in Test cricket, aided and supported well by spinner Nauman Ali, who unfortunately missed out on a maiden Test ton, getting stumped off 97. Pakistan’s debutants Sajid Khan and Tabish Khan picked their maiden Test wickets as the host Zimbabwe were pushed to 52/4 at the end of Day two’s play of the second Test. Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi, the usual suspects took one each as well. Coming to bat after having let their opponents score freely and reach 510-8 in their first innings, Zimbabwe didn’t get off to a good start as Tisiarai Musakakand became 36-year-old Tabish Khan’s first international wicket. Tabish was lucky as the in swinger clearly seemed to be missing the leg stump on replays. Regis Chakabva, who was promoted to number-3 did well to build a small partnership with the other opener Kevin Kasuza. But a nipping inswinger from Hasan Ali saw Kasuza’s off-stump cartwheel to Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. Zimbabwean skipper Brendan Taylor’s poor run of form continued as he edged a climbing short ball, bowled by an aggressive Shaheen from around the wicket, to Rizwan behind the stumps. Sajid Khan’s arm ball then got Milton Shumba and the Chevrons were reeling at 47-4 in 25 overs. The nightwatchman Tendai Chisoro then played out the remaining five overs alongside Chakabva to see off the day. Earlier in the day, starting from their overnight score of 268-4, Pakistan were anchored by Abid, who even in the face of wickets falling at regular intervals, kept ongoing. At 341-7, with no recognize batsman left to stand at the other end with Abid, it seemed that Pakistan will fold out under 400. However, 34-year-old Nauman had other ideas. Not at all a mug with the bat, the Sindh born utilised all his First class experience where he has 10 half-centuries and over 2000 runs, and played a blinder of an innings, hitting 104 balls 97, in which 41 off his last runs came off just 17 balls. The left-hander hit nine fours and five sixes in total as well. Once he got out, Babar Azam declared the innings at 510-8. Both Abid and Nauman added 169 for the eighth wicket, the 13th highest in the world and second for Pakistan. The highest eighth-wicket partnership for Pakistan also came against Zimbabwe when Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq added 31 runs in 1996.

Pakistan opener Abid Ali hit a four to reach his maiden double hundred in Test cricket, albeit without hitting a single six, which is one of the rare occasions in modern-day Test cricket. Playing the second Test of the two-match series against Zimbabwe, the right-hander held one end even as most of the stalwarts of the teams disappointed with the bat. Abid, 33, opened the innings with Imran Butt and has carried on since then, playing 393 deliveries to get to the milestone. Batting with patience, he built various partnerships, including the 236 runs stand for the second wicket with former skipper Azhar Ali. After some small contributions with others in the middle order, the Lahire born’s second-best partnership is the one going on between him and spinner Nauman Ali. At the time of writing this, Nauman, 34, had hit 70 out of the 132 run partnership between the two. Abid has so far played 11 Tests for Pakistan, scoring 629 runs at an average of 37 with two centuries to his credit. Pakistan after struggling with wickets falling in a bunch at the Harare Sports Club are now in a commanding position with 473 runs on the board at the loss of seven wickets.

Pakistan managed to put 268/4 on Day 1 of the second Test in Harare. Batting first after winning the toss, the visitors lost Imran Butt for 2 but Abid Ali and Azhar Ali played cautiously and stitched a 236-run stand to get the side back on track. While Abid remained unbeaten at 118, Azhar departed for 126 off Blessing Muzarabani. The right-arm bowler then picked up a couple of more wickets that included the scalps of captain Babar Azam and in-form batsman Fawad Alam in quick succession to reduce Pakistan to 264/4. Muzarabani eventually returned with figures of 3/41 in 19 overs while Richard Ngarava picked up a wicket as well before the stumps were called. Earlier, in the day Tabish Khan made his Test debut for Pakistan at the age of 36. Known for his consistency, Tabish has scalped 598 First-Class wickets so far. "I cannot express my happiness in words for my Test debut. Every kid who starts playing cricket in Pakistan has a dream of representing the country, especially in Test format and it's been a long journey for me but I have achieved my dream today," Tabish said earlier in a video released by PCB. "I will try my level best to meet everyone's expectations and give my 110% for the crest on my chest." Pakistan lead the two-match series 1-0 after they thumped Zimbabwe by an innings and 116 runs in the first fixture. They had also won the three-match T20I series 2-1.