Table of Contents
Pakistan’s over-reliance on their opening batters came back to haunt them as Zimbabwe defeated them by one run in a last-ball thriller at the Perth Stadium on Thursday.
Chasing 130 for victory, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan got out early and that exposed Pakistan’s middle order yet again. Shan Masood was among the runs and tried to hold his team’s innings together like he did against India. He and Shadab Khan added a crucial partnership of 52 runs for the fourth wicket, almost taking the Men in Green to the finish line.
But tight overs and regular wickets aided Zimbabwe as they took the match to the final delivery and eventually won.
A day after the match, a video has gone viral all over the internet where Pakistan all-rounder Shadab looked inconsolable in the pavilion. He went down on his knees and started crying before being taken back into the dressing room by one of the support staff members.
Here’s the video:
https://twitter.com/AvinashArya09/status/1585940564838518788
During the first innings, Shadab played a crucial role for Pakistan to restrict Zimbabwe to 130-8 as he picked up three wickets and conceded only 23 runs in his quota of 4 overs.
We will sit out, discuss our mistakes: Babar
Pakistan captain Babar was seen hiding his face with his palms as he could not believe what had happened. Head coach Saqlain Mushtaq too looked in disbelief as Zimbabwe caused a big upset. Mohammad Nawaz, who lost his wicket on the penultimate delivery, was down on ground after failing to finish the game.
“When Shadab and Shan were building partnership, unfortunately Shadab got out and then back-to-back wickets that pushed us into pressure situation. First 6 overs, we haven’t used the new ball well but we finished well with the ball. We will sit out, discuss our mistakes and we will train hard and come back strong in our next game,” Babar said in the post-match presentation.
