Played at the HARARE stadium Zimbabwe on 3rd of October, the match proved to be a roller coaster ride for the teams and the spectators. Pakistan batting first was in dire straits by losing three of its openers at the score of 29 until SHOAIB MALLIK rescued them by stitching a partnership of 42 runs with UMAR AKMAL. Earlier Zimbabwe medium pacers especially CHIBHABHA bowled a probing length and gave nothing away to the batsmen. As a result, AHMED SHEHZAD got his off stump uprooted by the pacer and later on MUKHTAR AHMAD as well as SOHAIB MAQSOOD was also dismissed by the same bowler.
RIZWAN was given a reprieve by the wicketkeeper when he missed to hit a sharp spinning delivery from MUTUMBAMI. It proved to be costly as the batsman scored runs freely and posted another 31 runs on the board. Due to last minute blitzkrieg by him, Pakistan easily reached a respectable target of 136.
ZIMBABWE started poorly in response to the innings of Pakistan and WASIM accounted for all the top order players in the fourth over. HAMILTON MASAKZADA offered a semblance of resistance by scoring 25 runs of the 25 balls. Moreover, the captain ELTON CHIGUMBURA tried his best with 31 runs of 28 balls at the end of the innings but it was not enough to reach the target. WASIM, the spinner proved to be a surprise package for Pakistan as he bowled drifters from round the stumps and took 4 crucial wickets by giving away 11 runs. Zimbabwe in its allotted quota of over could reach only 123 for the loss of 9 wickets. SIKANDAR RAZA and CHIBHABHA became the victims of WASIM as they tried to come down the wicket and got stumped in the process. CRAIG ERVINE, a prominent batsman of the Zimbabwe line up was judged LBW to a wonderful delivery from SOHAIL TANVIR. In the end, hosts lost the match by 11 runs. The man of the match award was given to left arm spinner Wasim for his 4/11 performance with the ball.