New Delhi: Pakistan and Zimbabwe faced off in an exhilarating first T20 match in Bulawayo. Pakistan emerged victorious with a stunning 57-run win. Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Pakistan set a challenging target of 166 runs in 20 overs. Zimbabwe, however, fell short in their chase, managing to score only 108 runs. Pakistan's strong batting performance proved to be the key to their success in this match.
Omar Yusuf and Saim Ayub, who came to open for Pakistan, gave a good start. Both scored 16 and 24 runs respectively. Usman Khan, who came at number three, played a brilliant innings of 39 runs in 30 balls. He hit 2 fours and 2 sixes in the innings. Tayyab Tahir scored 39 runs in 25 balls, while Irfan Khan scored 27 runs in 15 balls. In this way, Pakistan’s team was able to score 165 runs in 20 overs.
Bowling for Zimbabwe, Captain Sikandar Raza took 1 wicket, Maskazada took 1, Ryan Burl and Richard Nagarve also took 1 wicket. Now it was Zimbabwe’s turn to chase. Zimbabwe’s team could score 108 runs in 15.3 overs. Brian Bennett, who came to open, scored 6 runs. Marumani, who came with him, scored 33 runs in 20 balls. Sikandar Raza scored a brilliant 39 runs but could not win the match. Apart from this, no Zimbabwean player’s bat worked. For Pakistan, Abrar Ahmed took 3 and Sufian Muqeem also took 3 wickets.
With this win, Pakistan has taken a 1-0 lead in the 3 T20 match series. Now the next T20 match will be played on 3 December in Bulawai. Let us tell you that in this series, Pakistan has entered without Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi. It remains to be seen how Pakistan performs in the coming 2 matches.