That would be the story for Zimbabwe for the rest of the match as the batsman got themselves in, only for them to gist their wickets away at crucial periods of the match.
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Chibhabha had the best bowling figures for Zimbabwe with 3-18 inside his three overs. The Zimbabwe Captain Elton Chigumbura made the highest score 31 runs for his side.
Zimbabwe all rounder Chamu Chibhabha is beaten to depart for nought as Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan looks on during the first T20 match at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The Pakistan cricket squad arrived in Zimbabwe yesterday ready to test its ammunition ahead of the World Twenty-20 next year, but the hosts see this as an opportunity to correct past shortcomings and start winning important games.
However, Pakistan’s resistance was far from over as Wasim (19) and Mohammad Rizwan (33 not-out) notched up their team’s highest partnership stand of 46 runs for the sixth wicket. Pakistani batting line collapsed earlier in its innings, scored 136/8 after completion of 20 overs. Both Zimbabwe’s first Test victory and their first Test series win came against Pakistan, while Wasim Akram’s double-hundred, Saqlain Mushtaq’s World Cup hat-trick and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s final ODI were all against Zimbabwe.
“We’ve been working on our fitness, and also finding the combinations to take wickets in the middle overs, which makes things easier for us at the death”, bowling coach Douglas Hondo said.
While Younis remains wary of Zimbabwe’s abilities in their home conditions, he also admitted that Pakistan have one eye on what is to follow.
“It’s a process, and we’re going to try and implement what we got from Gweru, from the psychologist, and hopefully we can build from there”. “The wicket was a bit slow and hard, but requiring six runs an over, it was good enough to bat on”.
But the familiar batting woes returned to haunt them as they lost wickets at regular intervals on their way to a total of 123-9.
Earlier in the first T20 played at the same venue on Sunday, Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 13 runs leading the two match series 1-0.
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Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (c), Richmond Mutumbami (wk), Hamilton Masakadza, Chamu Chibhabha, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Malcolm Waller, Graeme Cremer, Tinashe Panyangara, Neville Madziva, Chris Mpofu, Taurai Muzarabani, John Nyumbu, Prosper Utseya, Luke Jongwe.
