Pakistan secured a comfortable 5-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the opening match of the T20I tri-nation series at Rawalpindi on Tuesday, 24NewsHD TV reported.
The Green Shirts successfully chased Zimbabwe’s target of 148 runs, reaching it with four balls to spare and losing five wickets in the process.
Fakhar Zaman was the standout performer for Pakistan, scoring 44 runs, while Saim Ayub contributed 22 and Sahibzada Farhan added 16.
Babar Azam was dismissed for a duck, but Usman Khan (37*) and Mohammad Nawaz (20*) remained unbeaten to guide the team home.
For Zimbabwe, Brad Evans was the most successful bowler, picking up 2 wickets.
Asked to bat first, Zimbabwe finished their innings at 147 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs.
Zimbabwe began their innings impressively, with the opening pair stitching together a 72-run partnership.
Marumani contributed a steady 30 runs before being dismissed.
Veteran batter Brendan Taylor added 14 runs but was run out at a crucial stage.
The standout performer was Brian Bennett, who top-scored with 49 runs, anchoring the innings until his dismissal.
Captain Sikandar Raza chipped in with a valuable 34 runs, while Ryan Burl managed 8.
Despite the promising start, Pakistan’s bowlers pulled the innings back effectively in the middle and death overs, restricting Zimbabwe from crossing the 150-run mark.
Pakistan delivered a disciplined bowling performance.
Mohammad Nawaz led the bowling charts with 2 wickets while Abrar Ahmed, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, and Shaheen Afridi picked up one wicket each, helping Pakistan contain Zimbabwe’s scoring rate.
The tri-nation series features Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka.