BULAWAYO – On Tuesday, the Zimbabwean cricket team let Bulawayo’s exhilarating crowd down, but today, they picked them right back up. In a nerve-shredding encounter, Zimbabwe controlled, won, threw away and eventually stole a roller-coaster of a game off the penultimate delivery. A slap from Richard Ngarava that thudded into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, a hesitant jitter, and a scampered single was what it took to seal a two-wicket win that will feel much more significant than the mere consolation it will be recorded as in a 2-1 series defeat against Pakistan.
In pursuit of 133 after a insipid batting performance from Pakistan, Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani appeared to have made this game routine when Zimbabwe blazed to 50 in five overs. But with a middle order as fragile as Zimbabwe’s no game is truly done, and even when the hosts sat pretty at 73 for 1 with more than half the overs the spare, Pakistan knew they were in with a shot, not least because of a Sufiyan Muqeem-shaped trump card who ran rampant through the middle overs once more. Within a five-over spell, 73 for 1 became 94 for 5, with Muqeem piling on the pressure as Abbas Afridi cleaned up from the other end. With four overs to go, the run rate was pushing 12.
Pakistan believed Sikandar Raza stood between them and victory, and when Zimbabwe’s talisman miscued tamely to long-on off Jahandad Khan, the game looked as good as gone for Zimbabwe. Needing 12 off the final over with 21-year-old Tinotenda Maposa – on T20 debut – on strike, things appeared bleak. But a squirted boundary was followed up by a monstrous hoick over square leg for six that brought Zimbabwe to within two runs of victory. There was time for more drama when Tashinga Musekiwa went for a glory shot and miscued, but a Bulawayo crowd full of soulful singing was not to be denied this time.
Stung by heavy criticism after an embarrassing collapse in the second T20I, Zimbabwe came out with a much greater intensity. Blessing Muzarabani had Omair Yousuf hole out for a duck, before Wellington Masakadza, who was accurate throughout, outwitted Sahibzada Farhan. A tentative little dab from Usman Khan off Muzarabani brought the third wicket, and Zimbabwe had the better of the powerplay by a distance.
Raza realized Pakistan were struggling against spin, and brought himself, Ryan Burl and Brian Bennett on at various stages through the middle overs. Pakistan were batting with a rather long tail, which necessitated a rebuild through the middle overs. Salman Agha struck up handy partnerships with Tayyab Tahir and Qasim Akram to keep the visitors ticking over, before useful cameos from Arafat Minhas and Abbas Afridi got Pakistan beyond three figures. It was only an untidy 13-run final over from Muzarabani that got Pakistan past 130 against a bowling attack that offered them very little throughout the innings. It was so very nearly enough.
Pakistan were defending a low total, and Zimbabwe’s openers essentially broke the back of it. The intent was clear when Bennett whipped Mohammad Hasnain to the square leg boundary off the first ball of the innings. Marumani, who has had the better of Jahandad for much of this series, whipped him through the offside for a pair of boundaries in the second over, and from thereon Zimbabwe were flying.
But when Hasnain lined up for his second over, he was in for a flaying at Bennett’s hands. His line and length was all over the place and the batter was only too happy to take advantage with a pair of boundaries on each side of the wicket, plundering 19 off the errant over. Salman hastily brought himself into the attack, and Marumani insolently reverse swept him on the first-ball. It had taken them just 19 balls to get to 40, and the required rate was now under five.
There’s no better indicator of the start Muqeem has made in T20I cricket that Pakistan turned to him for a miracle when they needed wickets and a reining in of the run rate. No batter could truly pick out his wrong-un, and his figures of 4-1-19-1 did not do justice to the full breadth of his wizardry. There were multiple pokes that barely missed the outside edge, and a couple of top edges that might so easily have gone straight to slip. It culminated in a beguiling final over to Musekiwa, who desperately tried to see him off, willing to play out a maiden as the asking rate spiked after every ball.
On any other day, Muqeem would have wrapped the game up before his spell ended, and on the evidence of this series, there will be many more such days. – ESPNCricinfo
