Azhar Ali’s ton wins the series for Pakistan - The 2nd ODI of the series between Pakistan and Zimbabwe was played at the same venue that is the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. This was a must win match for the visitors as they were already down 1-0 in a 3 match series and loss here would mean a series loss for Zimbabwe. After winning the toss Pakistan decided to bat first.
Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha gave the team a solid start. The start was not a quick one as Sibanda scored only 13 runs in 47 balls. He was the first to lose his wicket in the 19th over. The team was at 83/1 and needed a quick runs. This wicket opened gates for the team to enter in as the home side was able to take in some quick wickets. In the 35th over the team was struggling at 156/4. Chibhabha scored 99 runs before losing his wicket. The team seemed to be losing the wickets when Sikandar Raza came in as a savior. He scored 100 runs in 84 balls to take his team to a total of 268 runs. Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah took 2 wickets each for their team.
The Pakistan bowlers gave the team a great start to the match. Pakistan had the upper hand after the 1st innings. Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed scored 46 runs in 9th over for the 1st wicket. Ahmed lost his wicket scoring only 22 runs. Mohammad Hafeez came in next only to score 15 runs before losing his wicket. Ali then took charge of the game. He along with Asad Shafiq took the score to 153 runs. Shafiq scored 39 runs before losing his wicket. Ali was the next to lose his wicket after scoring 102 runs. He was the man behind Pakistan’s success in this match. Haris Sohail and Shoaib Malik scored 52 and 36 runs respectively to take the team across the required runs.
Azhar Ali was named as the man of the match as Pakistan sealed the 3 match series 2-0.