By Asghar Ali Mubarak
Rawalpindi: Brilliant batting exhibitions by Haider Ali and Babar Azam has cruised Green Shirts to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the second T20I at Pindi Cricket Stadium.
With this win, Pakistan has claimed an invincible lead of 2-0 in the three-match series while the final T20I will be played at the same venue on November 10th.
Set to chase 135, Pakistan lost Fakhar Zaman on a score of 10. Fakhar departed after scoring just 5. Babar then partnered with Haider and post a 100-run stand.
The 20-year-old Haider scored his second fifty while only playing his third T20Is whereas Babar registered his 16th fifty in the shortest format of the game.
The 26-year-old Babar was back to the pavilion soon after his fifty as Elton Chigumbura grabbed a great catch at the boundary. Babar smashed eight fours and a six in his 28-ball innings.
Haider and Khushdil Shah took Pakistan home in the 16th over. Haider remained unbeaten on 42-ball 66 while Khushdil made 9-ball 11.
Earlier Usman Qadir’s leg-spin magic crumbled Zimbabwe to 134/7 in 20 overs. The 27-year-old claimed figures of 3/23 in his four overs while Haris Rauf finished with 3/31. Zimbabwe’s Ryan Burl was the top-run getter, scoring an unbeaten 32.
Earlier, Babar put the visitors to bat first. Haris removed Brendan Taylor and Chamu Chibhabha in his first two overs.
Despite scoring more than 6-runs per over, Zimbabwe lost their wickets regularly. In the fifth over, Faheem Ashraf dismissed inform Sean Williams.
Middle-overs of the inning was majorly owned by Usman Qadir, who picked two wickets of Sikandar Raza and Wesley Madhevere in a space of three deliveries.
Later in his 14th over, Elton Chigumbara was outclassed by Usman’s googly as he went for a big shot but missed it completely. Mohammad Rizwan completed the stumps easily.
