MATCH REPORT
Follow UsThe opening day of the second and final Test was supposed to belong to centurions Abid Ali and Azhar Ali, but Blessing Muzarabani wreaked havoc with the second new ball and ensured Pakistan didn't run away with the game at the Harare Sports Club on Friday (May 7). The two batters put on 236 runs for the second wicket before Muzarabani picked up three wickets in no time to halt Pakistan's charge on day one.
Opting to bat, the visitors lost Imran Butt early but that's when Abid and Azhar joined hands and put on a record second-wicket partnership at the venue. The Zimbabwe bowlers looked flat for six hours before Muzarabani got the taste of the second new ball and dismissed Azhar, Babar Azam and Fawad Alam in the space of three overs. Azhar was dismissed for 126 off 240 deliveries but Abid didn't lose his concentration and remained unbeaten on 118 off 246. Nightwatchman Sajid Khan (1*) played his part as the two made sure there were no further hiccups. Pakistan were 268/4 in 90 overs when the stumps were drawn on the first day.
ZIMBABWE DOMINATE THE FIRST AND LAST HOUR
The surface was perfect for batting but Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava bowled with great control in the first 10 overs. The two fast bowlers kept Butt and Abid on the back foot and didn't allow them to score freely. Muzarabani got good bounce because of his height, while Ngarava simply kept bowling outside off. Abid almost edged one to the third slip in the fourth over, but the ball didn't carry to the fielder. The two openers were patient with their approach, just like they were in the first Test in which they put on 115 runs and played a key role in helping Pakistan take a 1-0 lead.
The hosts knew that they needed to break this partnership as soon as possible and it was Ngarava who got them the first breakthrough. The left-arm seamer kept bowling outside off to both the openers before surprising Butt (2) with a well-directed bouncer. The right-hander couldn't get into the right position but still went on with the pull shot, only to top-edge it to the fielder at short mid-wicket. But, that's when Azhar and Abid took command of the proceedings and batted out 449 deliveries without too much trouble.
The two completed their respective centuries and just when shoulders were starting to drop in the Zimbabwe camp, Muzarabani got them right back in the game. Unlike in the first Test, Brendan Taylor straightaway took the second new ball and Muzarabani broke the massive partnership by getting Azhar caught at the gully region. In came Azam, who was dismissed for a golden duck in the first Test, and could only score 2 this time around. The 24-year-old pacer had Azam caught at cover-point with a superb away-swinging delivery before bouncing out in-form Alam for just 5 in his very next over. Pakistan went from 248/1 to 264/4!
SLOW, YET PRODUCTIVE TONS FROM ABID, AZHAR
However, before Muzarabani did what he did with the second new ball, the day one was all about Abid and Azhar. The two took their ample time but batted with complete control during their partnership. The likes of Donald Tiripano, Tendai Chisoro and Milton Shumba let their guards down in the first and second session and allowed the two batters to dictate terms. It was Tiripano who bowled a couple of freebies to Azhar in the 14th over and the No. 3 batsman managed to put it away. Having got out in the 30s five times in his last five Tests, Azhar looked in good touch from the word go and managed to convert his start into a big score.
Meanwhile, Abid kept defending till left-arm spinner Chisoro was introduced into the attack. The opener slog-swept him for a couple of boundaries and never looked back from thereon. The two batsmen played some eye-pleasing drives and cut shots and were also fluent through the leg-side. Azhar was particularly aggressive against Tiripano and smashed him for six boundaries in total. Abid didn't really look too comfortable against debutant Luke Jongwe who kept troubling him with incoming deliveries but the batter didn't throw away his wicket.
The two picked up pace in the second session and scored at almost 3.5 runs per over. They kept finding boundaries at regular intervals and didn't allow the spinners to settle in. The two became the first Pakistan pair after Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan (219 runs v South Africa in 2013) to put a 150-plus partnership in the first innings of a Test outside Asia in almost eight years.
It was Azhar who got to his 18th century first by managing a boundary off Chisoro. This was his 14th Test hundred batting at No. 3 - the most by any Pakistan batsman. Meanwhile, Abid looked a bit tentative once he got into the 90s. He was dropped by the wicketkeeper when he was batting on 94 but the opener managed to hold his nerves and brought up his third century in the longest format of the game. He hit two centuries in his first two Tests but then struggled to get any in the next nine games. Once he got to his milestone, Abid started to shift gears but was soon forced to slow down by Mr. Muzarabani. The 33-year-old batter is still not out and will look to bat as long as possible on day two.
* Images credit - Zimbabwe Cricket
