The skipper of Pakistan’s
cricket team, Misbah-ul-Haq, was full of praise for his bowling brigade
after they held their nerves to secure a narrow win over Zimbabwe in the first ODI of the five-match series, played at Queens Sports
Club, Bulawayo.
Batting first, Pakistan posted 247 runs
for the loss of seven wickets, while the young bowling department was
able to restrict a resurging Zimbabwe side to 242.
The Men in Green opted to give youngsters a chance as their frontline bowlers, Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz, were not included in the squad. In their absence, Saeed Ajmal is at the centre of the Pakistani attack.
Ajmal exhibited a superb spell of spin bowling in which he hampered the flow of runs and also grabbed the wicket of Malcolm Waller. Muhammad Hafeez laid complete support to him by conceding 38 runs from his allotted overs. However,
the pick of the bowlers was the right-arm pacer Aizaz Cheema, who notched three wickets for 36.
Speaking fondly about his bowlers, Misbah
said, “Ajmal is our main weapon, especially on the slow tracks, but the
pacers did a great job. Tanvir with the new ball, Cheema in the middle
overs, and Junaid, who was disappointing at
start, came back well in the final over.”
Zimbabweans bowled with great enthusiasm
themselves. The African side pulled things back drastically as the Men
in Green were cruising along nicely with 188 runs on board for the loss
of four wickets at the end of 39th
over.
Misbah is assured that his side could have
won the match comfortably had they scored 20-30 more runs. The skipper
said that losing wickets at crucial stages restricted them to a modest
total.
Younis Khan from Pakistan was declared Man of the Match for an innings that yielded 78 runs and lasted 72 deliveries.
Khan
said, “At the time I was at the wicket, we had lost a quick wicket,
suddenly me and Hafeez said we needed to bat till 20 overs at least. I
was lucky I got early boundaries. It was a misjudgement to get out. The
pitch was quite
good, it slowed down later.”
The second ODI of the series will be played at Harare Sports Club on Sunday, September 11.
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