Zimbabwe held their nerves to beat Pakistan by one run in a thrilling Super 12 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 at Perth Stadium on Thursday.
This was Pakistan’s second defeat in two games and their road to the semifinal has become difficult now.
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Here is how social media reacted:
It’s not an upset.. It was always Zimbabwe’s match. Bad day for neighbours. #PAKvsZIM pic.twitter.com/inXGErwqpl
— Amit Mishra (@MishiAmit) October 27, 2022
Pic 1 – Pakistan After 20 overs of Zimbabwe batting
Pic 2- Pakistan after 20 overs of their batting. #PAKvsZIM pic.twitter.com/amXnUFprQy
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 27, 2022
Congratulations Zimbabwe, came to Perth with a simple game plan and toppled Pakistan. Last ball affairs to much for the team in green. #PAKvsZIM #T20worldcup22
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) October 27, 2022
What a fabulous effort by Zimbabwe to beat Pakistan defending 130. Held their nerves brilliantly. Very happy for them #PAKvsZIM
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) October 27, 2022
When Zimbabwe asks for Mr Bean, you do not give em Pak Bean!! #PAKvsZIM
— Varun Aaron (@VarunAaron) October 27, 2022
First Ireland defeated England & now Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan. Cricket is a game of uncertainties and possibilities. No team should be branded as a minnow. Looking forward to rest of the matches #T20WC2022 well done @ZimCricketv #PAKvsZIM
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 27, 2022
Zimbabwe!!!! what a World Cup this has been so far #PAKvsZIM
— Kate Cross (@katecross16) October 27, 2022
Won’t call the result an upset, if you watched the match you know Zimbabwe played top cricket from ball #1 and showed how to defend a low total on a batting pitch. Congratulations @ZimCricketv on the win, your passion and hard work shows #PAKvsZIM
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) October 27, 2022
Mohammad Wasim Jr (4/24) and Shadab Khan’s (3/23) clinical bowling performance helped Pakistan restrict Zimbabwe to 130/8 in 20 overs. The likes of Wasim and Shadab combined to bag seven wickets to trigger a drastic collapse, and were well aided by Haris Rauf (1/12) who proved hard to score off.
Chasing a below-par total, Pakistan lost the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan (14) and Babar Azam (4) in the powerplay and were in trouble.
Shan Masood then played a fighting knock (44 off 38) and kept his team alive in the run chase. However, once he got out, the game was slipping from the hands of Pakistan as Zimbabwe bowlers were not giving any freebies.
But, the likes of Mohammad Nawaz (22) along with Mohammad Wasim Jr (12 not out) were not ready to give up. However, Pakistan’s hopes got shattered when Nawaz got out in the second last ball of the last over of the innings. They were eventually restricted to 129-8 in 20 overs, losing by 1 run.
Sikandar Raza was the most successful bowler for Zimbabwe with his brilliant figures of 3/25. Brad Evans (2/25) was superb as well.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said he was dissapointed with the result.
“We would have taken 130 at the halfway stage. Very disappointing performance, we are not up to the mark in batting. We have good batters but both openers got out in the powerplay. When Shadab and Shan were building partnership, unfortunately Shadab got out and then back-to-back wickets that pushed us into pressure situation,” he said at the post match press presentation.
Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine was a happy man. He said: “So special. Especially for the work we did to get into the Super 12s. We did not want our tournament to end there. We wanted to come in and play some really good cricket against top teams and we did that exceptionally well today.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
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