Pakistan won their one-day international series against Zimbabwe with a 3-0 whitewash by taking the closing match with 28 runs to spare at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.
Pakistan, having been put into bat by the hosts captain Brendan Taylor, set a target of 270-5 with Zimbabwe making 242-9 in reply.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said afterwards that Pakistan’s policy of sending out a young and relatively inexperienced team had paid off and he was delighted with their overall performances.
Photo: Reuters
“This is all a good sign for the future of Pakistan cricket and from that viewpoint alone it was worth coming,” he said.
Pakistan, who had scrambled to a five-run win in the opening match and took the second by 10 wickets, were always the dominant side.
Zimbabwe put up a strong showing, their failing being continually behind the required run rate.
Pakistan got off to a spirited start through Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat, who sped to 32 runs in the first three overs. The innings settled after that, especially when Harfeez fell for 23 and Farhat for 37.
The run rate settled on about five an over, even though Asad Shafiq, one of three young players introduced, scored 51 and the old campaigner Younis Khan made 81.
It was Shafiq’s fifth half-century and Khan’s 44th. Khan was out to a wonderful caught and bowled by Kyle Jarvis just when he had his sights on a seventh one-day international century.
Shoaib Malik once again disappointed with 14, while the finishing touches were aggressively applied to the Pakistan innings by Misbah-ul-Haq, 29, and Adnan Akmal with 24.
Their target, stated before the match by the skipper to be 270 to 280, was therefore satisfactory and seemed, on the recent form of Zimbabwe, to be well beyond the home team’s reach.
Zimbabwe made a serious effort to get there, but even though Justice Chibhabha with 62 and Vusi Sibanda on 59 made a strong early showing, they could not keep up with the run rate necessary for a win.
Man of the series was Younis Khan.
The Pakistan tour continues with two Twenty20 internationals in Harare, today and on Sunday.
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