BULAWAYO: Kamran Ghulam’s maiden ODI century was followed by a combined bowling effort that helped Pakistan clinch the ODI series against Zimbabwe with a 99-run victory in the third ODI here at Queens Sports Club on Thursday.
While chasing a target of 304 runs, Zimbabwe were bowled out for 204 in 40.1 overs. Saim Ayub played a key role with the ball, dismissing two of Zimbabwe’s top-order batters.
Captain Craig Ervine was Zimbabwe’s top-scorer with 51 runs off 63 balls, including five fours and one six. Meanwhile, Brian Bennett played a crucial 37-run knock from 27 balls.
Earlier, Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan opted to bat first and fielded an unchanged side. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe made two changes with Clive Madande and Faraz Akram coming in for Trevor Gwandu and Brandon Mavuta.
Faraz Akram drew first blood for Zimbabwe as he removed Saim Ayub, who smashed a whirlwind century in the last match, in the 13th over with 58 runs on the board.
Abdullah Shafique then added 54 runs for the second wicket with Kamran Ghulam to push Pakistan’s total to 112. However, Abdullah fell prey to Sikandar Raza after scoring 50 off 68.
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Kamran was joined by Rizwan, who scored 37 off 47, and together they built a solid 89-run partnership for the third wicket. Rizwan was also dismissed by Sikandar.
After Rizwan’s dismissal, Kamran switched gears and completed his maiden ODI century before Richard Ngarava ended his entertaining knock. Kamran scored 103 runs from 99 balls with the help of ten boundaries and four sixes.
Salman Ali Agha (30) and Tayyab Tahir (29*) then played valuable cameos to take Pakistan’s total to 303-6 in the allocated 50 overs.
For Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza and Richard Ngarava took two wickets each, while Blessing Muzarabani and Faraz Akram bagged one each
It’s worth noting that the series is levelled 1-1 after Pakistan made a resounding comeback in the second match to thump Zimbabwe by ten wickets. Prior to that Zimbabwe had won the first ODI by 80 runs in the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) Method.
Pakistan Playing XI: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan, Tayyab Tahir, Salman Ali Agha, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Aamir Jamal, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed and Faisal Akram.
Zimbabwe Playing XI: Brian Bennett, Joylord Gumbie (wk), Craig Ervine (c), Tawandanashe Marumani, Clive Madande, Faraz Akram, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams.
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