T20 World Cup: Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by one run in thriller

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Group 2, Perth

Zimbabwe 130-8 (20 overs): Williams 31; M Wasim 4-24

Pakistan 129-8 (20 overs): Masood 44; Raza 3-25

Zimbabwe won by one run

Pakistan’s World Cup hopes suffered further damage with a shock one-run defeat by Zimbabwe in Perth.

Shan Masood looked to be steering Pakistan out of trouble before he was stumped for 44 off spinner Sikandar Raza, who took 3-25.

It was Zimbabwe’s first ever win outside the first round of a men’s T20 World Cup.

“It’s so special, especially after the work we did to get into the Super 12s,” said Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine.

“We didn’t want our tournament to end there, we wanted to come in and play some really good cricket against some top teams and I think we did that exceptionally well today.”

Needing three to win from the final ball, Shaheen Afridi could only manage a single and was run out trying to come back for a second run which would have secured a tie.

Pakistan are now without a win after two games, with their first outing against India also ending in a tense defeat.

The result takes Zimbabwe third in Group Two behind India and South Africa, while Pakistan are fifth.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Zimbabwe struggled against fiery Pakistan bowling, with Sean Williams’ 31 the only individual score of more than 20.

Mohammad Wasim starred with 4-24 and leg-spinner Shadab Khan took 3-23.

But Pakistan lost openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan early and slipped to 36-3 before a partnership of 52 between Masood and Shadab rebuilt the chase.

But when Shadab and Haider Ali fell in consecutive balls off Raza, the momentum shifted back to Zimbabwe.

In a chaotic finish, seamers Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava bowled with excellent discipline before a six and a four from Mohammad Nawaz swung the equation back in Pakistan’s favour.

But Brad Evans responded to have Nawaz caught at mid-off from the penultimate ball to virtually end Pakistan’s hopes.

Pakistan are not out of the tournament, but are now dependent on other results going their way.

Super 12 Group 2
Team	Played	Won	Lost	No result	Run-rate	Points
India	2	2	0	0	1.425	4
South Africa	2	1	0	1	5.2	3
Zimbabwe	2	1	0	1	0.05	3
Bangladesh	2	1	1	0	-2.375	2
Pakistan	2	0	2	0	-0.05	0
Netherlands	2	0	2	0	-1.625	0

bbc