OTD – Zimbabwe shocked Pakistan in a low-scoring match in T20 World Cup 2022

Just a year back on this day i.e. on October 27, 2022, during the T20 World Cup 2022, Zimbabwe produced a shocking and stunning result for the cricketing fraternity after they defeated Pakistan by the barest of margins (just 1 run) in a low-scoring affair. It was one of the shocking upsets in the T20 World Cup 2022, alongside the defeat of South Africa against the Netherlands in the later part of the tournament. 

Coming back to Pakistan vs Zimbabwe, both teams locked horns in the 24th match of the tournament at the Perth Stadium in Perth. Zimbabwean skipper Craig Ervine won the toss and decided to call Pakistan out to field first. 

Batting first, Zimbabwe somehow managed to post a below-par total of 130 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the allotted 20 overs courtesy of the 31-run knock played by Sean Williams, alongside some smaller contributions from the other batters in the lineup. 

Young Pakistan pacer Mohammad Wasim Jr scalped 4 wickets for Pakistan at the cost of just 24 runs in his quota of 4 overs, alongside 1 and 3 wickets picked by Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan, respectively. Haris Rauf conceded only 12 runs in his quota of 4 overs, including one maiden over.

Also read: OTD – Pakistan registered their maiden Test victory by defeating India in Lucknow in 1952

Sikandar Saza’s 3-fer dominated Shan Massod’s well-fought knock went in vain

While chasing the target, the veteran number 3 batter Shan Masood scored a well-fought knock of 44 runs, with 3 boundaries but it went in vain as none of the batters could cross the individual mark of 20+ runs except Mohammad Nawaz, who scored 22 runs with a four and a six with the willow. 

Pakistan kept losing the wickets at regular intervals which eventually restricted them to the score of 129 runs for the loss of 8 wickets after a thrilling last over, and lost the match by a very close margin of 1 run. 

Star Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza won the ‘Player of the Match award for his match-defining bowling; Raza scalped 3 wickets at the cost of 25 runs in his quota of 4 overs. Other than him, Brad Evans also picked two wickets, alongside one wicket each by Blessing Muzarabani and Luke Jongwe. 

Notably, it was the second consecutive defeat for Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 and they were on the verge of exit from the tournament but still, they left everyone in a shock after making it through to the final of the tournament where they lost to England.