Qadir, Shafique power Pakistan to series clean sweep over Zimbabwe

Four wickets for Usman Qadir restricted Zimbabwe to 129/9 before a solid 41* on debut by Abdullah Shafique and a savage 15-ball 36 from Khushdil Shah made light work of the chase.

Haris Rauf struggled to find his line in his first over, allowing Zimbabwe to get off to a flier with 19 runs coming from the over, but the other bowlers soon reined the innings back in. By the end of the Powerplay, the visitors had scored only 39 runs with Brendan Taylor and Craig Ervine back in the shed.

Chamu Chibhabha put some pressure back on the hosts with a six and a four from Imad Wasim’s second over, but Usman Qadir managed to induce a top edge in the next over to dismiss the Zimbabwe captain and Imad bounced back to send Ryan Burl packing for just one run.

The spin duo continued to apply pressure, leading to Milton Shumba, one of two debutants for Zimbabwe along with Faraz Akram, charging past one from Qadir to be stumped. Wesley Madhevere then edged one to slip later in the same over to leave the Chevrons reeling at 75/6.

Qadir, playing just his third T20I, wasn’t finished yet either, having Elton Chigumbura, playing his 57th and final T20I, caught behind with his final ball to end with figures of 4/13 improving on his previous best T20I figures of 3/23 which he picked up in the previous game of the series. A late surge by Donald Tiripano and Wellington Masakadza lifted the visitors to 129/9, but it still looked short of a competitive total.

Zimbabwe started well in the field with some disciplined bowling restricting Pakistan to just a run a ball during the Powerplay before Fakhar Zaman holed out off Masakadza in the seventh over. Haider Ali deposited a brace of sixes, one each off Masakadza and Madhevere, but he fell to Shumba’s left-arm spin, walking after feathering a catch behind on 27.

Haider’s departure left the hosts needing 51 from 50 balls, but any hopes of a Zimbabwe fightback were quickly dashed as Khushdil Shah, playing his fourth T20I, hit both his fifth and sixth deliveries faced over the ropes. Shafique also began to play with more freedom and the pair took just 22 balls to score the required 51 runs.

Pakistan also sealed a 3-0 series sweep with the eight-wicket win to close out Zimbabwe’s tour.