Skipper Azam help Pakistan rout Zimbabwe, clinch series

Hasan Ali’s brilliant spell of 4/18 helped Pakistan to contain Zimbabwe under 165.

Sharjeel Khan and Mohammad Rizwan started the innings for Pakistan but Khan was dismissed for 18 runs of 15 balls with the help of 3 fours.

After the dismissal of Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam came on the wicket and he along with Mohammad Rizwan added 126 runs to the team's score. Both the players also completed their fifties.

Babar Azam achieved the milestone of 2,000 T20I runs in his 52nd inning becoming the fastest batsman to set the record.

Pakistani skipper was bowled out for 52 while Fakhr Zaman was caught on the first ball. Mohammad Rizwan remained unbeaten on 91 of 60 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 5 fours.

Pakistan scored 165 for three in the allotted 20 overs and set a target of 166 for Zimbabwe to win.

Earlier, national team captain, Babar Azam had won the toss and said that the wicket looked fresh, they would score well and win the series by scoring as many runs as possible.

Pakistan made three changes in the squad, Asif Ali, Danish Aziz and Arshad Iqbal were dropped while Sharjeel Khan, Sarfraz Ahmed and Hassan Ali were included in the playing XI.

The Three-match series has been won by Pakistan 2-1 as in the second match of the series, Zimbabwe crushed Pakistan by 19 runs and made history by winning the first-ever T20 against Pakistan while guests beat the hosts in the first T20 by 11 runs.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan has defeated South Africa by 3-1 in their recent four-match T20I series while Zimbabwe lost by 0-3 in their last three-match T20I series against Afghanistan.

Earlier in 2020, Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe by 2-1 in the One Day Internationals (ODI) series and then swept them 3-0 in the T20I series.