- Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 24 runs in the third and final T20I to take the series 2-1
- Babar Azam becomes fastest, in terms of innings, to 2,000 T20I runs
Harare, 25 April 2021: Half-centuries from Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam and career-best four-fer from Hasan Ali led Pakistan to a 24-run win over Zimbabwe in the third and final T20I at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday. The win also secured the three -match series for the tourists with the 2-1 scoreline.
Chasing 166 to win, Zimbabwe were restricted to 141 for seven.
Hasan, who was featuring for the first time in the series, led the fightback for the visitors when he took two wickets in the 16th over to put breaks on hosts run-chase. He accounted for Tarisai Musakanda (10 off 11, one four), Wesley Madhevere (59 off 47, seven fours), Regis Chakabva (naught) and Sean Williams (nine off seven, one four).
The right-arm fast bowler ended-up with match figures of four for 18 in four overs, his best in T20I career. Haris Rauf took two for 34.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, Pakistan scored 165 for three. Rizwan top-scored with an unbeaten 91 off 60 balls. His innings included five fours and three sixes. He knitted a match-winning 126 runs for the second-wicket with Babar.
Babar scored 52 from 46 balls which included five fours. During the course of his innings he became the fastest batsman to reach 2,000 runs in this format. It took 52 innings for the Pakistan captain to achieve this feat breaking India’s captain Virat Kohli, who had taken 56 innings to reach the landmark.
For Zimbabwe, Luke Jongwe picked three wickets for 37.
Hasan was named player-of-the-match, while Rizwan was awarded player-of-the-series award for scoring 186 runs.
Pakistan team had won the first T20I by 11 runs while Zimbabwe won the second by 19 runs. Both teams will now feature in a two-Test match series with first Test match starting at the same venue from 29 April.
Scores in brief
Pakistan 165-3, 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 91 not out, Babar Azam 52; Luke Jongwe 3-37)
Zimbabwe 141-7, 20 overs (Wesley Madhevere 59, Tadiwanashe Marumani 35; Hasan Ali 4-18, Haris Rauf 2-34)
Result: Pakistan won by 24 runs
Player-of-the-match: Hasan Ali
Player-of-the-series: Mohammad Rizwan
