Aamna Aamna 
Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe by 99 runs and won the series 2-1 on Thursday thanks to Kamran Ghulam’s first one day international century. With a century in his first test match against England at Multan last month, Ghulam gained popularity. On Thursday, he scored 103 off 99 balls as Pakistan built a commanding 303-6.
Haris Rauf puts the finishing touches on Pakistan’s overwhelming victory which also wins the series. The game is lost by 99 runs as Zimbabwe is all out for 204. The visitors put on an outstanding display and bounced back from the opening game loss.
Pakistani openers Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique who won the toss and chose to bat first put up a 58 run display at the top of the order. Ayub (31 off 37) smashed three boundaries and a six against Zimbabwe’s new ball attack a few days after achieving one of Pakistan’s fastest ODI hundreds. However in the 13th over of the match Faraz Akram knocked him out.
After reaching his sixth ODI half century Shafique and Kamran Ghulam, the number three batsman enjoyed another 50 plus partnership. Shortly after Sikandar Raza caught the 25 year old plumb in front of him for a fifty off 68 balls, the “Men in Green” reached 113-2 at the half.
At number three, Kamran Ghulam continued to dominate by scoring 103 runs off 99 balls, a career high score. Ghulam exchanged 89 runs with captain Mohammad Rizwan (37 off 47) and another 31 with Agha Salman (30 off 26), dazzling his first ODI century with 10 boundaries and four sixes. Richard Ngarava took out both Ghulam and Salman in the first overs of the innings as they attempted quick runs.
After Sikandar Raza took his second wicket of the day from Rizwan, Pakistan was blasted to 303-6 from 50 overs by Tayyab Tahir’s lightning fast 16 ball 29.
In the first three overs of the runchase, part time off spinner Saim Ayub who shared the new ball with Agha Salman took early wickets of Zimbabwe opener Joylord Gumbie and number three Dion Myers. Abrar Ahmed supported Ayub’s early attack with the valuable scalp of wellset Zimbabwe opener Tadiwanashe Marumani (24 off 30) who took four wickets on his ODI debut a few days ago.
Aamer Jamal and Haris Rauf dismissed both well set batsmen as Zimbabwe fell to 123-5 in 26 overs but hosts captain Craig Ervine (51 off 63) and veteran player Sean Williams (24 off 29) salvaged some top order comeback with a 41 run stand for the fourth wicket.
After taking out half centurion Craig Ervine at 130-6, Aamer Jamal went on to take the crucial wicket of Sikandar Raza in the very next over. Abrar Ahmed defeated Clive Madande to take 2-45 from nine overs, breaking Brian Bennett’s late 40-run resistance.
Centurion While Faisal Akram (1-37) and Haris Rauf (2-34) swept up the tail to enclose Zimbabwe for just 204 in 40.1 overs, Kamran Ghulam added a wicket to his total in the form of Faraz Akram. Pakistan won the three-match series 2-1 after sealing the match by 99 runs.
