3rd ODI: Zimbabwe beat Pakistan after Super Over

After Pakistan and Zimbabwe could not be separated at the end of 100 overs in the 3rd ODI at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, it needed a thrilling Super Over to break the tie, where the guests prevailed and got themselves a consolation win, thanks to their towering fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani.

Having taken five wickets (5-49) during the quota of 50 overs, the 6'8 pacer restricted Pakistan to just two runs in the Super Over, taking both the Pakistani wickets within four balls, which made the chase a cakewalk for his side.

Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Zimbabwe recovered from 22-3 to post a pretty decent 279-run target. Their innings was anchored by centurion Sean Williams (118) after it was wrecked by Mohammad Hasnain (5-26).

Pakistan's run chase was doomed from the start and they were 51-4 and 88-5 at various stages but their captain Babar Azam (125) and Wahab Riaz (52) almost turned the game around before falling right at the death. In the end, it came down to Pakistan needing a last-ball boundary to force a Super Over - something Muhammad Musa Khan did, courtesy a misfielding. 

In the end, Zimbabwe won the match, lost the series 2-1. Muzarabani was named the player of the match while Babar Azam claimed the player of the series title.

End of live blog

Zimbabwe's chase:

3-0 after 0.3 over: Sikandar Raza redeems himself with a double that saw a misfield. Zimbabwe win!

1-0 after 0.2 over

1-0 after 0.1 over: 1 run taken

Pakistan have set a target of just 3 runs for Zimbabwe

2-2 after 0.4 over: Khushdil inside-edges on to the wicket. Pakistan lose both their Super Over wickets. 

2-1 after 0.3 over: Fakhar Zaman only manages a single

1-1 after 0.2 over: Khushdil top-edges and almosts gets caught too

0-1 after 0.1 over: Iftikhar out first ball

0-0: Iftikhar Ahmed and Khushdil Shah to bat Muzarabani to bowl.

278-9 after 50 overs: 13 needed off the final over and Musa smokes the first ball for a four. He hits another clutch four off the final ball to match Zimbabwe's tally. We're getting a super over.

266-9 after 49 overs: Afridi swings his bat, connects, mistimes and gets caught by Sikandar Raza. Next ball, Muzarabani gets the big wicket of Babar Azam. The extra bounce sees him surprised and nick one back to the keeper. This should be it.

259-7 after 48 overs: 20 needed from 12

255-7 after 47 overs: Wahab Riaz is caught at long on. He departs for 52. Is there a late twist in the tale left?

247-6 after 46 overs: Wahab Riaz 51 (53) Babar Azam 110 (115)

242-6 after 45 overs: Wahab Riaz's four and a six pretty much swing the game in Pakistan's favour. If they don't lose a wicket here, they should be home. With his six, he brings up the 3rd half-century of his career.

230-6 after 44 overs: Sikandar Raza makes a mess of a straight forward catch at deep midwicket. This could be the difference between being whitewashed and a consolation win.

49 needed from 36

225-6 after 43 overs: Babar Azam brings up the 17th ODI century of his career. It took him just 105 balls. He doesn't celebrate much as the job is not done yet.

212-6 after 42 overs: Williams does his best to bait Wahab into playing a risky stroke but the veteran Pakistani does not get trapped. 

Wahab Riaz 27 (40) Babar Azam 99 (104)

210-6 after 41 overs: 

208-6 after 40 overs:

200-6 after 39 overs: Wahab Riaz smacks a six and survives an lbw review, thanks to an inside edge. 

194-6 after 38 overs: Babar pulls Tiripano for a four on the final ball to move into his 90s.

184-6 after 37 overs: Wahab Riaz 16 (23) Babar Azam 82 (91)

182-6 after 36 overs: Partnership up to 31. This is not over until Babar stands.

174-6 after 35 overs: Babar survives a huge lbw appeal. Wahab finishes the over with a boundary.

Wahab Riaz 8 (13) Babar Azam 80 (89)

Drinks break taken.

169-6 after 34 overs:

164-6 after 33 overs:

156-6 after 32 overs: 

151-6 after 31 overs: Blessing Muzarabani is brought back into the attack and he sets the perfect trap for Khushdil (33 off 48). He targets his off stump and manages to draw him into nicking one back to the keeper.

The tail is officially exposed as Wahab Riaz walks in as the number eight batsman. 

149-5 after 30 overs: Babar Azam 65 (77) Khushdil Shah 32 (43)

142-5 after 29 overs:

125-5 after 28 overs: 

127-5 after 27 overs: Fifty up for Babar Azam. His second straight of the series and 17th of the career.

123-5 after 26 overs: 

115-5 after 25 overs: A welcome boundary for Khushdil rrelieves some scoring pressure.

108-5 after 24 overs: 

106-5 after 23 overs: Babar Azam 46 (57) Khushdil Shah 9 (20)

103-5 after 22 overs:

100-5 after 21 overs: 

98-5 after 20 overs: Babar Azam 40 (49) Khushdil Shah 7 (10)

92-5 after 19 overs:

88-5 after 18 overs: Iftikhar Ahmed gets an almost unplayable ball from Tiripano and is astonished to see his bails disturbed.

Debutant Khushdil Shah comes in with his team in an extremely difficult position. He is a hard-hitting batsman by nature but the situation requires him to play a different game here. 

87-4 after 17 overs: Drinks break!

Babar Azam 37 (42) Iftikhar Ahmed 18 (20)

82-4 after 16 overs: Twin boundaries for Iftikhar in this over. Runs are coming slightly easier for now.

72-4 after 15 overs: Iftikhar Ahmed 6 (11) Babar Azam 34 (39)

65-4 after 14 overs:

58-4 after 13 overs:

53-4 after 12 overs: Mohammad Rizwan misses a fuller ball, his bat finds the thinnest of inside edges and it goes on to rattle his stumps. Pakistan are officially in deep trouble. Iftikhar Ahmed, whose partnership with Babar in second ODI saved Pakistan, is in.

51-3 after 11 overs:

46-3 after 10 overs: Back-to-back boundaries for Babar - one a cover drive, the other a leg glance.

38-3 after 9 overs:

35-3 after 8 overs: A couple of pretty cover drives by Babar Azam - one find the gap, the other finds the fielder.

30-3 after 7 overs:

27-3 after 6 overs: Another quiet over.

26-3 after 5 overs:

25-3 after 4 overs: Haider Ali misses an inswinger, gets hit on the pad and is adjudged out. The review does not save him. Richard Ngarava gets his second wicket. Mohammad Rizwan joins in and is immediately bothered by the ball shaping away. Thankfully, Babar Azam is still there.

20-2 after 3 overs:

18-2 after 2 overs: When was the last time a Pakistan run chase did not have its hiccups? Probably never. Fakhar Zaman cops one on the pads, takes a review but loses it. 

Then, Haider Ali comes in and hits three boundaries off the next four deliveries to relieve pressure off the run chase.

4-1 after 1 over: An early setback for Pakistan as Imam-ul-Haq, after hitting a four on the first ball of the innings, is cleaned up by Blessing Muzarabani. Babar Azam is in earlier than he'd have liked.

Story at the innings break: A man each from both the sides outshone and outplayed their opponents as well as their teammates. 

From Pakistan, it was Mohammad Hasnain who picked up five of the total of six wickets that fell. 

For Zimbabwe, it was Sean Williams, who took the crease when his team was 22-3 and melting but went on to score an unbeaten 118 and helped his side to a massively decent score of 278-6.

On a day no other Pakistani bowler found any job, Hasnain was the one-man wrecking ball. He picked up all three of the wickets up top and returned to pick another two, and could have had a sixth too. 

Williams, meanwhile, fought hard, survived the early onslaught of wickets before building the innings with Brendan Taylor (56) first, then Wesley Madhevere (33) and then Sikandar Raza (45) - sharing half-century stands with all three to make sure the match remains interesting in the second innings.

Random fact #2:

278-6 after 50 overs: Wahab Riaz bowls our Sikandar Raza. Sean Williams finishes unbeaten at 118

270-5 after 49 overs: Another tight over by Afridi. Just six from it.

264-5 after 48 overs: Sean Williams completes his fourth ODI century and his first against Pakistan. 

Sean Williams 111 (130) Sikandar Raza 39 (30)

250-5 after 47 overs: Musa completes his forgettable 10-over spell during which he gave away an staggering 80 runs. Easily the most ineffective of all bowlers on the day.

237-5 after 46 overs: 

232-5 after 45 overs: Expensive over by Musa. He goes for 14 runs featuring three boundaries. Williams is in his 90s while his partnership with Raza has now surpassed the 50-mark.

Sean Williams 94 (119) Sikandar Raza 26 (23)

218-5 after 44 overs: Wahab Riaz bowls a no ball, Sikandar Raza gets a free hit. He has a go at it but misses the ball completely. Vickey, after all, is not that easy to hit.

Sikandar Raza 17 (20) Sean Williams 89 (116)

207-5 after 43 overs:

202-5 after 42 overs: 200 up for Zimbabwe. A target of 260 plus can be set for Pakistan if they bat out all their overs. 

Sean Williams 80 (110) Sikandar Raza 11 (13)

195-5 after 41 overs:

189-5 after 40 overs: Hasnain completes his quote of overs with figures of 5-26. What a performance by the 20-year-old.

184-5 after 39 overs:

181-5 after 38 overs: It's a fiver for Mohammad Hasnain as he catches Madhevere (33) on his own bowling.

179-4 after 37 overs:

171-4 after 36 overs:

164-4 after 35 overs:

151-4 after 34 overs: Sean Williams 57 (90) Wesley Madhevere 17 (16)

148-4 after 33 overs:

140-4 after 32 overs: Sean Williams completes his half-century.

135-4 after 31 overs:

123-4 after 30 overs: Wesley Madhevere 9 (10) Sean Williams 37 (72)

117-4 after 29 overs:

114-4 after 28 overs: Wesley Madhevere 3 (4) Sean Williams 35 (66)

109-4 after 27 overs:

108-4 after 26 overs: Hasnain picks up his and Pakistan's fourth wicket as Taylor, the half-centurion, deposits and easy catch into the hands of Khushdil Shah.

106-3 after 25 overs:

102-3 after 24 overs: Taylor completes the 39th half-century of his ODI career.

92-3 after 23 overs: Brendan Taylor 49 (61) Sean Williams 28 (47)

89-3 after 22 overs:

87-3 after 21 overs:

85-3 after 20 overs: From 22-3 to this point is not bad at all.

Sean Williams 25 (38) Brendan Taylor 46 (52)

83-3 after 19 overs: Iftikhar is getting reverse-swept at will here. This time Williams does it and finds the fence.

77-3 after 18 overs:

75-3 after 17 overs: Iftikhar Ahmed insists that he is not just a part-time spinner but gets reverse-swept for a four on his first ball of the day. Gets the same treatment again later in the over.

66-3 after 16 overs: Afridi dropping Williams off of Wahab Riaz's bowling at third man was the most notable play of the over.

62-3 after 15 overs:

49-3 after 14 overs:

43-3 after 13 overs: Zimbabwe have their best and most experienced batting pair at the crease in Taylor and Williams. The duo are fighting back.

Sean Williams 11 (17) Brendan Taylor 19 (31)

34-3 after 12 overs.

31-3 after 11 overs. A rare six off the top edge in this one bowled by Muhammad Musa Khan.

23-3 after 10 overs. Hasnain bowls a maiden. He has three wickets and given away just six runs.

Brendan Taylor 11 (22) Sean Williams 0 (8)

23-3 after 9 overs. 

Random fact: This is the first time ever that Pakistan are playing three 20-year-old pacers in a single ODI match (h/t to commentator Alan Wilkins). Afridi, Hasnain and Musa form the trio.

22-3 after 8 overs. Brian Chari gets a perfect yorker that breaches his already frail defence. He contributes just 9 runs - almost five less than his career average. Bowling coach Waqar Younis will be proud of that one. Hasnain now has three.

21-2 after 7 overs. Brendan Taylor 9 (13) Brian Chari 9 (17)

15-2 after 6 overs. Another excellent over by Hasnain.

10-2 after 5 overs. The wobbling guests could have been three down, had Brendan Taylor not put some bat on a dead straight Afridi ball that was heading for the stumps. It draws a huge appeal but the umpire remains unmoved and review is not taken. 

4-2 after 4 overs. Another needless interference with a ball going wide and another setback. This time Craig Ervine brushes a ball on his pads back to keeper Mohammad Rizwan. Hasnain has two wickets already.

4-1 after 3 overs.

1-1 after 2 overs. Chibhabha gone already. Messes with an outside off ball, caght in two mind, edges it and gets caught in the second slips off by Iftikhar Ahmed. You don't expect a Pakistani fielder to catch those but then it wasn't travelling at the speed of light. Mohammad Hasnain gets the wicket.

0-0 after 1 over. Chari cops several on the pad in 1st over. Looks extremely uncomfortable against the menacing Shaheen Afridi.

0-0 after 0 overs. Brian Chari and Zimbabwe captain Chamu Chibhabha are at the crease. Just so you know, Chari averages 13.61 in ODIs. It explains why the Africans are down 2-0 in this series and ranked 14th in the format. For more context, no one in the Pakistani line-up averages lower than that with the bat. Not even specialist bowlers.

11:31pm Pakistan make four changes: Fakhar Zaman replaces Abid Ali, Khushdil Shah comes in for Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz comes back in place of 'unwell' Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Hasnain gets the first game of the series at Haris Rauf's expense.

11:30pm Zimbabwe win the toss, opt to bat first. Babar Azam admits he'd have also wanted to bat first on the surface.

11:24pm We're minutes away from the scheduled 11:30am match toss.

Team News: Faheem Ashraf has food poisoning and will not be in contention for a playing role today. He's been replaced by Haris Rauf in the 15-man squad.

Match preview: Zimbabwe look to salvage pride in third, final ODI against Pakistan

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