Sufiyan Muqeem plays the role of Pakistani humble Zimbabwean in Bulawayo

“That’s how we want to play, we don’t want to play the way the throw goes. We are a good team. If we bat first we can win the game, if we bowl first we can win the game. “Just like the young people.” is encouraging and nice to see.”

“We have plans and they are executing them really well, their performance is outstanding. The way Sufiyan and Abrar bowled today is excellent. I am very happy and the team is very happy. We haven’t won a T20I series recently. “We didn’t win the T20I series in Australia, we wanted to win here. We want to continue like this in the coming series.

“We’re all miserable and we’re all feeling pretty bad. But we still have 36 hours to get back on our feet. We can stay in the moment, but that won’t win us the next game. We still have the desire. We beat Pakistan. It was a pretty poor performance today but we still want to beat Pakistan before they go home.

You can’t always have power hitters. But what we ask of everyone is that this is a young team. The more we play, the more we learn. Pakistan is a team with quality and it is not easy. But what we have to ask is that people learn when we continue to make the same mistakes. People need to take a hard look at themselves and find answers.”

And that’s it. The visitors did it in just 33 balls. A new-look Pakistan team certainly means business. They also win the series 2-0 with one of the most dominant performances ever witnessed. Dominance, that’s the right word.

Pakistan is not far away now. Only 28 runs are needed and we could call it a fast day. Very disappointing from the hosts as they showed no fight. However, for the traveling Pakistanis there is a new star in Sufiyan Muqeem.

We are back in the chase and Omair Yusuf and Saim Ayub have made a very positive start. Pakistan will try to end this as shoulders are already lowered in the Zimbabwe camp.

And that’s it. Sufiyan Muqeem had five and Pakistan took all ten wickets in less than 13 overs. Zimbabwe have now recorded their lowest total in men’s T20Is. Sikandar Raza will not be a happy man and the hosts will not be a happy team, especially after such a promising start. We’ll be back for the chase at 3 p.m.

In Bulawayo everything happens very quickly. Sufiyan Muqeem has spun a web around the hosts and they simply have no answers. Two overs, three runs, four wickets.

Things are getting worse for Zimbabwe. The intent was never the question, but the duration of it, and they collapsed like nine pins, losing half the team in just 46 runs and in less than nine overs.

The game turned on its head within three overs as Abbas Afridi and Haris Rauf picked up three wickets in quick succession. Suddenly the hosts have gone from 37/0 to 41/3, and that means only one thing: trouble.

So far so good for Zimbabwe. A decent start turned into a good one as 37 runs were already scored in four overs. Both batters Marumani and Bennett hit three fours each while Bennett also hit a six.

Zimbabwe are on the rise and showed some serious signs of intent in the first two overs of the encounter, most notably Brain Bennett. However, the question remains whether they can keep this up for long.

Pakistan captain Salman Agha: “We have a good team, we can bat well. We can hunt well, we have a good enough team. We need to bowl well in the powerplay and improve our fielding and batting. We need the top batters to score big.”

Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza: “We will bat first. We talked in detail about the spin options. We have a young team and we have to keep improving. We need better representation of batting, fielding and bowling. You have to analyze the wicket. Nothing drastic.” Otherwise, we’re doing well with the same team.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat

Zimbabwe (Ending XI): Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani(w), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza(c), Ryan Burl, Clive Madande, Tashinga Musekiwa, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani, Trevor Gwandu

Pakistan (Playing XI): Omair Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan(w), Salman Agha(c), Tayyab Tahir, Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem

Pakistan leads the T20 head-to-head 17-2 in 19 matches. In their penultimate meeting, Zimbabwe registered a one-run win in the group stage match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Perth.

Zimbabwe: Sikandar Raza (c), Faraz Akram, Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Trevor Gwandu, Clive Madande (wk), Wessly Madhevere, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), Wellington Masakadza, Brandon Mavuta, Tashinga Musekiwa, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers , and Richard Ngarava

Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (c), Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (week), Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan (week), Sufyan Moqim , Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (week)

In Zimbabwe, ZTN will broadcast the first T20I match between Zimbabwe and Pakistan live. Fans in Pakistan can watch the match on Geo Super, PTV, Myco and also stream it live on Tamasha app/website and Tapmad app/website.

In India, live streaming of Zimbabwe vs Pakistan 1st T20I match will be available on Fancode app and Fancode website.