Move over, South Africa – world cricket has a new choker in chief.
For the second time at the T20 World Cup, Pakistan have thrown away a winning position with a final over bottle for the ages against Zimbabwe to leave their tournament on death row, losing by a solitary run in a match that went down to the very last ball yet again – and once more, all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz was front and centre.
Against all the odds, Zimbabwe, who needed to go through the qualifying stage to even make it into the Super 12s, are undefeated after two games, having held off South Africa for long enough in their opening game to allow rain to wash the match out. They are in the semi-final hunt up to their eyeballs.
Meanwhile, Pakistan, who could so easily have been 2-0, are winless from two starts, and need plenty of results to go their way to reach the final four even if they do sweep the rest of the group stage.
And they only have themselves to blame.
Needing three to win from the final three balls and four wickets in hand, with Brad Evans having been clubbed for eight thus far in the final over by Nawaz and Mohammad Wasim, Pakistan appeared to have dug themselves out of trouble after struggling throughout a moderate run chase of Zimbabwe’s 130.
But in a dramatic finish to rival those memorable scenes at the MCG on Sunday, the most volatile team in the world would fluff their lines spectacularly.
Having seen a slower ball disappear over his head two deliveries prior, Evans cranked up a gear to beat Nawaz’s attempted cut for pace. Three off two.
Nawaz had earlier been denied a chance at closure for his disastrous final over to India and Virat Kohli, having been overlooked with the ball by Babar Azam; and in the heat of the moment, the 28-year old would have yet another nightmare.
With the target still well within reach and only the tail to come, Nawaz attempted to thump Evans down the ground, only to badly mistime to Zimbabwean captain Craig Ervine at mid-off.
Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe celebrates the wicket of Shan Masood of Pakistan. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
The African nation rejoiced. Three off three had suddenly become three off one, with the last recognised batter back in the sheds and a new man, bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, on strike.
Suddenly Zimbabwe had put their noses in front; and with Afridi only able to bunt a nerveless Evans down to long on, even the two Pakistan needed to force a super over was all but impossible.
Wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva did his best, though; bobbling a take from the return throw, had Afridi been any closer he may well have made his ground. But with the quick having barely turned from the non-striker’s end, Chakabva had more than enough time to recover, take the ball cleanly, remove the bails, and complete a famous Zimbabwe win.
“It’s so special, especially for the work that we did to get into the Super 12s,” a delighted Ervine said after the match.
“We didn’t want our tournament to end there – we wanted to come in and play some really good cricket against some top teams, and I thought we did that exceptionally well today.
“After our batting performance, we thought that were were maybe 20-25 short. But I thought our seamers hit their straps early on, and there was just a little bit more in the wicket compared to when we started off.”
The match will undoubtedly be remembered for how Pakistan managed to lose it, and it won’t do justice to a superb bowling effort from Zimbabwe.
On a Perth wicket again laden with plenty of spice for the quicks, they had squandered a brilliant start from openers Wessly Madhevere and Ervine to crawl to 8/130 – a disappointing effort even notwithstanding a 47-run PowerPlay – only to bowl like demons to continually leave their more fancied opponents chasing the game.
Three crucial wickets from all-round talisman and player of the match Sikandar Raza, atoning from a rare disastrous innings with the bat, battered the door down with Pakistan 3/88 and looking set to cruise to victory; while quicks Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava were superb with the new ball to heap pressure on star opening pair Babar and Mohammad Rizwan.
Babar Azam of Pakistan takes a catch to dismiss Regis Chakabva of Zimbabwe. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Chakabva, too, had his moment of magic; a brilliant legside stumping off Raza to remove the set Shan Masood for 44, and leave Pakistan reeling at 6/94 having lost three wickets for just six runs, was the moment Zimbabwe truly began to believe.
But the real hero was Evans, who claimed the early scalp of the captain for just 4 after carving a sharp chance to Ryan Burl at point – the second consecutive failure from one of the dominant forces of the 2021 World Cup.
The 25-year old ended with figures of 2/25, having held his nerve spectacularly at the death and capitalise on the Pakistani panic to full effect.
Such a result looked unlikely as Zimbabwe squandered a strong start from young gun Madhevere, who once again showed his talent with a pair of sparkling drives off Afridi in the first over.
As he had done in their washed-out clash with South Africa, Madhevere played powerfully but sensibly, taking on the bowlers with classic strokeplay that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Test arena.
He’d fall for 17 in unlucky fashion, mystifyingly given out LBW after a DRS review found a Mohammad Wasim ball that had struck him high on the pads had become the first in the history of Perth to not be bouncing over the stumps. From there, Pakistan would take control.
Haris Rauf, having removed Ervine in the previous over, was simply too quick to deal with: rushing the Zimbabwean batters all evening, he’d even manage a rare maiden to the usually dynamic Raza, denying him any room and refusing to relent with his high speed.
As always, legspinner Shadab Khan mixed his pace expertly to stymy the African nation, a slower, flightier delivery to outfox a motoring Sean Williams the highlight.
It helped, too, when Babar was capable of sublime one-handed plucks at slip like the one he mustered to remove Chakabva first ball, one delivery after Williams fell.
Following suit was Wasim, brought into the team after Pakistan found themselves crucially one paceman short against India. Attacking the stumps and using the slower ball to good effect, the 21-year old prodigy also found himself on a hat-trick after removing Raza and Luke Jongwe with successive deliveries; though he’d let himself down by spraying the chance down the leg side.
A late scramble from Burl and Evans – and a dropped sitter from Haider Ali in the deep off the former that ended up proving oh so crucial – at least prevented the complete collapse that looked imminent at 7/95. As it turned out, they’d given Zimbabwe just enough to defend.
“A very disappointing performance,” Babar admitted after the match.
“We are not up to the mark in our batting… the first six overs we are not using the new ball good.
“Later on we finished well. We’ll sit together and discuss our mistakes and come back hard next match.”
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Given this result, Zimbabwe must now be confident of continuing their unbeaten run against Bangladesh at the Gabba on Sunday: their most common international opponent has largely had their measure in recent years, but this is a team now riding on a high and with the sniff of the most unlikely run at a major tournament since Kenya at the 2003 ODI World Cup.
As for Pakistan, they must wait until Sunday to attempt to get their tournament going at last, when they face the Netherlands. At this point, though, it might already be too late.
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