The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
This is Dwaipayan Mukherjee, signing off alongside Arya Shekhar Chakraborty. We will see you soon!
So Zimbabwe take the head and the tail of this white ball series against Pakistan. The Asian team win all other games and pose with the trophy as we can spot many happy faces.
Salman Agha (Pakistan Captain) : Outstanding to see the players perform throughout the series. I would have liked to score more runs in all games, but happy to lead the side and contribute with the ball in hand. Yes, there will be some sore bodies as we visit South Africa but this is something that we take a lot of pride in and we look forward to doing our best in those conditions as well. Players like Muqeem and Saim have made a wonderful start to their careers and I am sure that they will be serving the Pakistan cricket future for many years to come. Before I leave, I want to thank the Zimbabwean local crowd as they have turned out in huge numbers and supported us.
Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe Captain) : Certainly, we wanted to win the series but unfortunately we could not do that but the desire to do well against the Pakistan side was always there within the group. We did not want to dwell too much into what went right or wrong earlier because it becomes important to come out fresh, be very clear and concise with our plans which happened for us as we restricted them to a low score. There are lessons that many of the young players will learn, a few bad games will not define their careers. We have Afghanistan next week. Doing well against Pakistan is very important for our confidence and the development of our squad. For the World Cup qualification, it is big.
Sufiyan Muqeem is the Player of the Series.
Brian Bennett is the Player of the Match, here is what he had to say: Obviously it's nice to contribute in the winning cause. Will look to continue the good work against Afghanistan. I mean it's always team first, wherever the coach and the team wants me to bat I will bat there. Of Course we are a young team so we are always learning. Thankfully we could end up winning it today. We are very confident, have a couple of days off and come back.
Zimbabwe (133 for 8 from 19.5 overs) defeat Pakistan (132 for 7) by 2 wickets
Brian Bennett - 43 (35) | Sikandar Raza - 19 (20) Abbas Afridi - 3/24 | Jahandad Khan - 2/30
WHAT A WIN! WE CAN HARDLY BELIEVE THIS! When Raza departed the scene and 21 runs needed from 12 balls, the home side looked down and out. Pakistan almost used pulled off the heist. We will take out time to catch our breath but it is worthy to revisit how it all panned out.
Brian Bennett began the chase with a boundary in the first ball. Pakistan's average day with the bat translated into the field. There was a dropped catch in the 2nd over of the chase with Jahandad being the unlucky bowler.
Zimbabwe raced to a flying start where they reached to 40 for no loss in the first 3.1 overs - Salman Agha came across to the bowling crease and broke the blitzkrieg but Zimbabwe always remained ahead of the asking rate which made things really simple for the hosts at the end of the powerplay where they sat handsomely at 56 for 1.
Pakistan staged a comeback in the middle overs with a cluster of wickets around the halfway mark. Abbas Afridi struck in his first ball of the match when he came into the attack in the 11th over. That got 2 new batters to the crease for the hosts and they were threatened to go down the route of another middle order collapse - something that they have been constantly subjected to in recent times.
73 for 1 turned into 94 for 5 and the scoring rate soared steadily in this phase. The 16th over by Muqeem was maiden as the required rate went past 9 runs per over. For 14 balls between the 14th and the start of the 17th over, Raza did not face even a single ball and that played a pivotal role in Pakistan impacting this extraordinary comeback.
The Zimbabwe skipper smacked one through the cover regions for a boundary that brought up the team century. To put things in perspective while explaining the slump that the hosts endured, the first 50 runs of the chase came in 30 balls and the next 50 runs came in 69 balls.
Jahandad returned for his 2nd over in the 18th over and the last ball of that over saw Raza getting dismissed as he was in pursuit of another big shot. Pace was taken off and the Zimbabwean side almost botched up another run chase where they looked firmly in control.
There was another twist in the tale when debutant Tinotenda Maposa came out to bat ahead of Richard Ngarva who has been effective in accumulating lower order runs for the African nation. Maposa struck a six and a four in the final over that ensured that Zimbabwe pick the consolation win.
They were under so much pressure. The group had to really wrestle for this win, they had to scrap long and hard. But Raza and his men will remember the topsy-turvy ride of this match, particularly during the chase. Presentations to follow!
19.5 Jahandad Khan to Richard Ngarava, Zimbabwe win by 2 wickets on the penultimate delivery of the match. The series ends 2-1 in favour of Pakistan. On a fullish-length a shade outside off, Ngarava clears his front leg and smashes it back at the stumps at the non-striker's end. riocheted towards the mid-off region and completes the single to see it through for Zimbabwe.
Richard Ngarava, LHB, comes to the crease
19.4 Jahandad Khan to Tashinga Musekiwa, WICKET! Drama here at Bulawayo as Zimbabwe lose one more with just 1 run away from the victory target. A well directed short of a length delivery from Jahandad, a shade outside off and that hurried the batter, he goes for the pull and ends up getting a top edge which has been safely pouched by the midwicket fielder.
19.3 Jahandad Khan to Tinotenda Maposa, back of a length delivery a shade outside off, sythed away back to the bowler by Maposa, Musekiwa was half way down the track, Jahandad misses the direct hit allowing Maposa to take the single.
We can hardly believe this. Not a match for the faint-hearted.
19.2 Jahandad Khan to Tinotenda Maposa, SIX! What a humungous blow from the debutant and what a time to execute that. A length delivery around the chest height of Maposa, was a gentle delivery and Maposa clears his front leg and swats it across the line, makes great connection and the ball goes sailing over the backward square leg fence. Just 2 more needed off 4.
19.1 Jahandad Khan to Tinotenda Maposa, FOUR! Perfect start to the over for Maposa and Zimbabwe. He comes down the track and Jahandad bangs it in short, Maposa gets inside the line of the ball ever so slightly and inside edges the attempted pull, past the short fine leg fielder and finds the boundary.
12 runs needed from the last over - 3 wickets for Pakistan. Can the home side get a consolation win? Jahandad to bowl it.
19
overs
121/7score
1
2
1wd
0
4
W
1
runs
Tinotenda Maposa*
1(1)
Tashinga Musekiwa
7(16)
Abbas Afridi
3/24
18.6 Abbas Afridi to Tinotenda Maposa, on a fuller-length around the off-stump channel, Maposa gets down on one knee and goes for the slog sweep, gets an inside edge towards the fine leg region and takes a single. 12 required off the final over.
Tinotenda Maposa, RHB, comes to the crease
18.5 Abbas Afridi to Wellington Masakadza, WICKET! Pakistan strikes back and the match keeps swinging from one team to the other. That was a back of a length delivery bowled at the line of the stumps, around off and middle and Masakadza tries to heave it across the line, gets beaten completely and the ball thuds onto his back leg, the umpire had no hesitation in raising his finger.
Wellington Masakadza lbw b Abbas Afridi 6(4b, 1x4, 0x6)
18.4 Abbas Afridi to Wellington Masakadza, FOUR! A very important boundary for Zimbabwe. Was on a fuller-length a shade outside off, the mid-off fielder was up in the circle and Masakadza slices it down the ground, clears the mid-off fielder and skips away to the fence.