MATCH REPORT
Follow UsHasan Ali, Nauman Ali and Shaheen Afridi were all amongst wickets but Zimbabwe finally put up some fight and managed to drag the second and final Test into the fourth day at the Harare Sports Club. Regis Chakabva and Co. displayed some courage in the second innings but the hosts still lost 15 wickets on Sunday (May 9). The aforementioned three took 13 of those scalps and Pakistan are now just one wicket away from completing a series whitewash.
Resuming the day on 52/4, Hasan picked up four wickets in no time and completed his fourth five-wicket haul in Test cricket. And, four of those have come in the last three games, including this one. He finished with career-best figures of 5/27. Zimbabwe batsmen looked clueless against Pakistan bowlers and were bundled out for just 132 in their first innings, giving Pakistan a 378-run lead. Just like in the first Test, Babar Azam enforced the follow-on but Zimbabwe refused to throw in the towel in the second essay.
Chakabva (137-ball 80) and skipper Brendan Taylor (31-ball 49) took the attack to Pakistan and dictated terms during their 79-run stand for the third wicket. The two batters missed out on their respective personal milestones and that's when Nauman (5/86) and Afridi (4/45) took over and wreaked havoc in the final session. The home side kept losing wickets at regular intervals and it felt like the game would get over on day three, but Luke Jongwe (51-ball 31*) and Blessing Muzarabani stuck around and kept Pakistan at bay.
CHAKABVA, TAYLOR PUT UP SOME FIGHT...
The ball started keeping a bit low on day three but the surface hardly offered anything to the bowlers. Pakistan managed to bowl Zimbabwe out in the first session and enforced the follow-on. Tarisai Musakanda (8) played a lousy shot early in the second innings and fell to Afridi. However, that's when Kevin Kasuza and Chakabva dug in and added 50 runs for the second wicket. The former kept defending everything, while Chakabva didn't shy away from playing his shots. Kasuza scored 22 off 73 deliveries before becoming Nauman's first victim.
Zimbabwe needed the captain to step up and Taylor took an aggressive approach the moment he arrived to the crease. The two were particularly aggressive against Nauman and Sajid Khan and didn't allow the two spinners to settle in. Taylor, who scored at a strike rate of almost 160, announced his arrival by slamming Nauman and Tabish Khan for five boundaries. Chakabva too kept hitting everything down the ground the moment he got anything in his arc. Known to throw away his wicket after getting a start, Chakabva batted with a lot more intent and brought up his fifth fifty. In the process, he also went past 1000 runs.
Taylor was about to smash the fastest fifty for Zimbabwe but was dismissed by Afridi in the 37th over. It was a nothing delivery on the pads and Taylor tried to glance it very fine but ended up inside edging it to the wicketkeeper. Chakabva however carried on for a while before becoming Nauman's second victim. The wicketkeeper-batsman smashed 13 fours and two maximums before getting caught at first slip.
...BEFORE NAUMAN, AFRIDI TAKE OVER
The two set batsmen were gone and that's when Nauman and Afridi forced Zimbabwe into submission. They got massive support from their fielders who took some blinders. Nauman got rid of Milton Shumba (16), Donald Tiripano (0) and Roy Kaia (0) in the space of two overs and completed his second five-for in Test cricket. Afridi then knocked over Tendai Chisoro and Richard Ngarava with two reverse-swinging yorkers to reduce Zimbabwe to 205/9.
Debutant Jongwe however kept fighting and along with Muzarabani frustrated Pakistan bowlers. Jongwe was also involved in an entertaining battle with Hasan. There were a couple of words exchanged and some funny gestures made, but the right-hander didn't lose his concentration. The game went on to the extra half an hour but the light started fading and the umpires were forced to call stumps.
