Pak stare at early exit after loss to Zimbabwe

MUMBAI: After their heart-breaking loss to India on the last ball of their tournament opener, things only got more difficult for Pakistan as their T20 World Cup hopes lay in tatters after crashing to a one-run defeat to Zimbabwe in a thrilling game at Perth on Thursday. Having restricted Zimbabwe to a modest 130/8, Babar Azam’s side floundered in their chase finishing on 129/8.

Sikandar Raza was Zimbabwe’s hero, picking up 3/25 with his off-spin.

Coasting at 88/3 after 13.3 overs, Pakistan batters committed harakiri against Zimbabwe’s part-time off-spinner to crash to 94/6 in 15.1 overs as Raza claimed three wickets in four balls. Shadab Khan and Haider Ali fell off successive balls and on the first ball of his next over, he had the well-set Shan Masood stumped down the legside. Masood (44 off 38 balls) and Shadab (17 off 14 balls) had a 52-run partnership to help Pakistan recover from 36/3. Their quick dismissals derailed the chase.

To have a chance of qualifying for the semifinals, Pakistan now need to win all their remaining three Group 2 games, against South Africa, Bangladesh and Netherlands and hope other results go their way too. The top two teams from both groups qualify for the last four.

Pakistan are in fifth spot in Group 2 after losing both their opening games. After the win, Zimbabwe are in third spot with three points, same as secondplaced South Africa. Luck has been on Zimbabwe’s side after their opening game was washed out with South Africa just a couple of blows away from victory, giving them a point.

Playing his first game of the tournament, Brad Evans was the other star performer for Zimbabwe. He chipped in with a couple of crucial hits with the bat to score 19 off 15 balls at No 9 to help Zimbabwe recover from 95 for seven after 14.4 overs to 126 for eight. A total of 130 for eight meant they had something to fight with. He was entrusted with the responsibility to defend 10 runs in the final over with Pakistan having four wickets in hand.

Another meltdown

The pressure was on pacer Evans after Mohammad Nawaz and Mahammad Wasim hit seven runs off the first two balls. It reduced the equation to a gettable four off four balls.

But Evans bowled three nerveless deliveries in which he conceded just one run and picked a wicket. Nawaz swung and missed the 4th ball and then got caught trying to clear the infield next ball. It left Shaheen Afridi three runs to get off the last ball.

With two needed to tie the match, Afridi drove the ball to long-on as Evans bowled full on the fifth stump. The fielder, Raza, did well to charge in and put the Pakistan pair under pressure for the second run. Wicket-keeper Regis Chakabva fumbled while collecting the one-bounce throw but did well to recover and take the bails off to beat Afridi’s desperate dive to trigger wild celebrations among the Zimbabweans.

Left to rue his team’s poor show, Pakistan captain Babar Azam said: “(It was a) Very disappointing performance. Our batting wasn’t up to the mark.”

Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine called it a special effort from his players. “We didn’t want our tournament to end there. We wanted to come in and play some really good cricket against some top teams and I thought we did that exceptionally well today,” said Erwine.

130/8 in 20 overs (Williams 31; Wasim 4/24, Shadab 3/23) beat

129/8 in 20 overs (Masood 44, Raza 3/25, Evans 2/25)