Zimbabwe stun Pakistan with 19-run win to level series

Zimbabwe stunned Pakistan with a 19-run win over the Babar Azam-led side in Harare in the second T20I of the series on Friday. Chasing a small target of 119 runs in 20 overs, the visitors were bundled out for 99 in the 20th over.

Luke Jongwe bagged a four-wicket haul which included the dismissals of captain Babar, in-form wicket-keeper batsmanMohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf and Arshad Iqbal. While Jongwe picked up four, Ryan Burl scalped a couple of wickets during the course.

Pakistan looked steady in the chase despite being 56/3 in the 12th over but the departure of Babar Azam saw a flurry of wickets in quick succession. From 78/4, the visiting side just scored 21 runs and lost the next six wickets to suffer the defeat.

Only three players managed to get into the double figures while Babar top-scored with 41 off 45 while Danish Aziz who was runout notched up 22 off 24.

Earlier, Pakistan bowlers dominated the hosts thoroughly. Though, the home side started off the proceedings in a steady manner but they lost the way in the middle overs and were reduced to 83/5 only to get restricted to 118/9 in 20 overs.

Mohammad Hasnain and Aziz picked up two wickets apiece while Faheem Ahsraf, Arshad Iqbal, Haris Rauf and Unman Qadir had one wicket each to their name. Tinashe Kamunhukamwe top-scored for Zimbabwe with 34 in 40 deliveries.

Expressing his disappointment on the defeat, Pakistan captain Babar Azam admitted that the team played poor cricket while praising the Zimbabwean bowling attack for their efforts.

“We played poor cricket in the batting department. Credit to Zimbabwe for playing good cricket. The surface was stopping a bit and was two-paced. But it's no excuse, we're professionals and need to deal with it. Hopefully we will come back strong in the next game,” Azam said.

Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor hailed the youngsters and credited them for executing the plans well.

“Big turnaround from the first game and that's all that you can ask of your players. They executed the plans superbly. I'd be lying if I say that I was confident (of defending 118) but we dug deep in the powerplay,” Taylor said.

The three-match T20I series is presently levelled at 1-1 with the decider to take place on Sunday in Harare. The T20I series will be followed by a two-match Test series slated to begin on April 29.

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