Watch: Pakistan dressing room stunned, Babar Azam shocked as Zimbabwe pull of monumental upset in heart-stopping finish
Babar #Babar
Keeping up with the trend of big teams enduring upsets at the T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan by one-run in an absolute thriller at Perth. Despite posting a modest total of 130/8, Zimbabwe’s bowlers pulled off a performance for the ages – led by Sikandar Raza – keeping Pakistan at bay and still in search of their first win of the tournament. Needing 11 to win off the last over, Zimbabwe saw off Mohammad Nawaz threat to seal the win off the last ball of the match, with Craig Ervine and Regis Chakabva running out Shaheen Afridi.
The entire final over was full of drama. Nawaz looked like collecting a boundary off the first ball but a tremendous effort by captain Craig Ervine at the long-off boundary denied Pakistan and they had to settle for three. Young Brad Evans bowled a slower ball, but one that was picked well by Mohammad Wasim, who drilled it down the ground for four. A single off the third ball meant that Pakistan needed three off three, but Evans bent his back and beat Nawaz outside off.
Going for the glory shot, Nawaz perished holing out at mid-off where Ervine completed the catch. It all came down to three needed off the last ball and facing the music was Shaheen Afridi. Aware that a Super Over might not be a bad option given the long boundaries, Shaheen and Wasim came storming back for the second. But despite a stumble by Chakabva, a diving Shaheen fell short, giving Zimbabwe a famous win.
As the Zimbabwe players celebrated in jubilation, the Pakistan dressing room was shocked bunch, and expectedly so. The players were stunned as the camera panned to Babar Azam, who with hands on his face, wore a dejected look. After the match, Babar admitted that this was a disappointing show from his team and called Shadab Khan and Haider Ali’s back-to-back dismissals the turning point of Pakistan’s chase.
“We would have taken 130 at the halfway stage. Very disappointing performance, we are not up to the mark in batting. We have good batters but both openers got out in the powerplay. When Shadab and Shan were building partnership, unfortunately Shadab got out and then back-to-back wickets that pushed us into pressure situation,” Babar said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, Zimbabwe were off the blocks quickly with Ervine and Wesley Madhevere adding 42 inside five overs but Pakistan pulled things back through Haris Rauf and Wasim, who sent the openers packing. Shadab joined the action, rocking Zimbabwe’s middle order. Sean Williams kept Zimbabwe’s hopes alive, but his dismissal for 31 left them reeling. From 95/3, in no time, Zimbabwe slumped to 95/7 before a lusty blow from Evans and Ryan Burl took his team to 130.
Pakistan’s top order of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan failed again, as Blessing Muzarabani and Evans provided the opening breakthroughs. Shan Masood kept fighting but Zimbabwe mounted pressure by bowling one tidy over after the other. Pakistan’s chasse took a perplexed turn when Raza came on to bowl, and picked up three wickets in two overs to really send Pakistan in panic mode. Nawaz tried to redeem himself but his 22 off 18 balls wasn’t enough.
The defeat has thrown Pakistan’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals into a spot. Not only do they have to win the remaining three matches, but hope other results go their way too. With defeats against India and Zimbabwe, Pakistan are placed fifth just above the Netherlands in the Group 2 points-table.
