Pakistan wins the 1st match played at Lahore after a long time - After the attack on Sri Lankan team in Pakistan, cricket made its way back to the country with Zimbabwe touring Pakistan. The tour stated off with 1st of the two T20’s. The 1st match of the series was played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on 22nd May. Here the Zimbabwe cricket team decided to bat first after winning the toss.
Hamilton Masakadza and Vusi Sibanda gave the team a great start scoring 58 runs for the 1st wicket. These runs came in just 6.5 overs. Sibanda was the 1st one to go after scoring 13 runs while the very next ball saw Masakadza too lose his wicket after scoring 43 runs. Next success for Pakistan came in the 9th over when they took the wicket of Charles Coventry who scored 14 runs for his team. Sean Williams the World Cup star for visitors was able to score only 16 runs as he lost his wicket in the 13th over leaving his team at a score of 100/4. Zimbabwe needed some quick runs and in came Elton Chigumbura. He hit the ball in all ends of the park and scored 54 runs in 35 balls. With the help of his innings the team was able to score 172 runs. Mohammad Sami took 3 wickets to become the most successful bowler for the home team.
Home team needed a good start in order to achieve the target of 173 runs in 20 overs. The openers Mukhtar Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad gave the team what was required. Scoring at a rate of 10 an over the team saw the 1st wicket partnership of 142 runs. Shehzad scored 55 runs before losing his wicket. Soon Ahmed too lost his wicket after scoring 83 runs. The visitors brought some worries to the home team as they lost many wickets in a short span of time. The team was able to achieve the total with 3 balls remaining. Mukhtar Ahmed was named as the man of the match for his wonderful batting performance. The home team led the 2 match series by 1-0.