Kamran Ghulam hit his maiden ODI century to help Pakistan post 303-6 in the third ODI of the three-match series against Zimbabwe at the Queen’s Sports Club here on Thursday.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan decided to bat first and did not make any changes. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe made two changes with Clive Mudande and Faraz Akram replacing Trevor Gwando and Brendan Mawta.
Faraz Akram drew first blood for Zimbabwe when he dismissed Saim Ayub, who scored a century in the previous match, for 58 runs in the 13th over.
Abdullah Shafiq then added 54 runs for the second wicket with Kamran Ghulam to take Pakistan’s total to 112. However, Abdullah fell victim to Sikandar Raza after scoring 50 runs in 68.
Kamran was joined by Rizwan, who scored 37 off 47, and the two put on a strong 89-run partnership for the third wicket. Rizwan was also dismissed by Sikandar.
After Rizwan’s dismissal, Kamran changed gears and completed his maiden ODI century before Richard Nagrava ended his entertaining innings. Kamran scored 103 runs off 99 balls with the help of ten fours and four sixes.
Salman Ali Agha (30) and Tayyab Tahir (29*) then played valuable cameos to take Pakistan’s total to 303-6 in the allotted 50 overs.
For Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza and Richard Nagrava took two wickets each while Blessing Mazarbani and Faraz Akram took one wicket each.
It is worth noting that after a brilliant comeback in the second match, Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe by ten wickets to level the series at 1-1. Earlier, Zimbabwe won the first ODI by 80 runs in the Duckworth Louis Stern (DLS) method.
Playing Xis
Pakistan has no change while Zimbabwe has made two changes.
Pakistan: Saeem Ayub, Abdullah Shafiq, Kamran Ghulam, Muhammad Rizwan, Tayyab Tahir, Salman Ali Agha, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Aamir Jamal, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed and Faisal Akram.
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Joelward Gumby (WK), Trevor Gwando, Craig Irvine (C), Todwanashe Marumani, Brendan Mawta, Blessing Mazarbani, Richard Ngarwa, Devon Myers, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams.