Debutant Tenotenda Mapusa backed up his bowling figures of 1/12 with a match-winning cameo of 12 not out to lead Zimbabwe to a two-wicket thriller in the final T20I of the three-match series at the Queen’s Sports Club here on Thursday. Satisfying victory.
The home side got off to a flying start in the run chase as they were 73/1 in 9.3 overs with opening batsmen Brian Bennett and Devon Myers at the crease.
Emerging spinner Sufyan Muqim, however, provided the visitors with a breakthrough, dismissing set-piece Bennett, who top-scored for Zimbabwe with 43 off 35 balls, hitting seven fours, including a six.
His dismissal sparked a middle-order collapse, which saw the home side slip to 94/5 in 14 overs.
Skipper Sikandar Raza put up some resistance against Pakistan’s bowling attack until Jahandad Khan was dismissed in the 18th over.
Abbas Afridi, who returned impressive figures of 3/23, dismissed Wellington Masakdza (six) to deal another blow to Zimbabwe’s chase.
The hosts then needed 12 runs off the last over with Mapusa on strike.
The right-handed batsman hit Jehandad with a four and a six off the first two balls of the decisive over, which eventually proved enough to defeat Zimbabwe by two wickets.
Deciding to bat first, despite captain Salman Ali Agha’s innings of 32 runs, the team could only score 132 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Pakistan’s innings got off to a disappointing start as young opener Umeer bin Yousuf was bowled for a golden duck off the second ball of the second over for just four runs.
The Green Shirts lost two more wickets in quick succession to reach 19/3 in four overs.
Emerging middle-order batsman Tayyab Tahir briefly boosted the team’s total with a quick cameo, which continued with a scoreboard of 52/4 in 7.4 overs in the eighth over.
Tahir hit two fours and a six for 21 runs off 14 balls.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Agha Qasim was involved in a cautious partnership with Akram (20) and Arafat Minhas before finally collapsing in the 15th over.
Agha was the top scorer for Pakistan with 32 runs off a ball which included three fours.
Minhas then shared a crucial partnership of 27 runs with Abbas Afridi for the seventh wicket, which lasted until the latter’s dismissal in the last over. Abbas scored 15 runs off 14 balls.
Meanwhile, Minhas scored an unbeaten 22 off 26 balls, while Jahandad Khan scored six not outs.
For Zimbabwe, Mazarabani took two wickets while Wellington Masakdza, Tenotenda Mapusa, Richard Ngarwa and Ryan Burrell took four wickets each.
The two-wicket victory helped Zimbabwe avoid a series sweep, with Pakistan winning 2–1.