Shoaib Malik’s ton guides Pakistan to 1st win in the series - The 1st of the 3 ODI matches to be played between Zimbabwe and Pakistan was played on 26th of May. This match was played at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. It was a 6 years of wait for the people of Pakistan to witness cricket on their grounds. In this match Pakistan won the toss and decided bat first.
Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali gave the team a good start scoring 170 runs for the 1st wicket. The two players gave the team a good solid base in only 26 overs to construct a huge innings. Ali after scoring 79 runs lost his wicket. Hafeez too lost his wicket in the 28th over. The Hafeez scored 86 runs before losing his wicket. This brought in Shoaib Malik and Haris Sohail into the crease. These two batsmen didn’t waste any opportunity as they score runs at a quick rate. Sohail and Malik took the team total to 375 runs. Malik scored 112 runs before losing his wicket in the 50th over. He scored this runs in 76 balls. Sohail scored 89 runs 66 balls. The team posted a total of 375 runs in 50 overs. Prosper Utseya was the top bowler for the visitors as he took 2 wickets giving away 63 runs in 10 overs.
The Zimbabwe batting order needed to play their best ever game to ensure a win in the 1st ODI. The opening pair of Vusi Sibanda and Sikandar Raza scored 56 runs for the team. Raza scored 36 runs before losing his wicket. Sibanda scored 23 runs and was the next to go. Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura brought the visitors back in the game. They took the team total to score of 189 runs in 33 overs. Masakadza scored 73 runs before losing his wicket. Chigumbura then continued along with Sean Williams to take the score to 263 runs in 42 overs. Williams scored 36 runs in this innings. Chigumbura scored 117 runs in 95 balls. Zimbabwe was able to score only 334 runs in 50 overs.
Pakistan now leads the 3 match series 1-0 as Shoaib Malik was named as the man of the match.