Pakistan crush Zimbabwe to secure series-levelling victory

Abrar Ahmed marked a memorable debut with outstanding bowling figures of 4/33 as Pakistan bowled out Zimbabwe for a modest total of 145 in the second ODI of their three-match series at Queens Sports Club on Tuesday.

Opting to bat first, Zimbabwe struggled early, losing openers Tadiwanashe Marumani (4) and Joylord Gumbie (5) with minimal contributions. The hosts found some stability through a 38-run partnership between Dion Myers and captain Craig Ervine, but the latter's dismissal for 14 and Myers' departure for 33 (off 30 balls, including six boundaries) left Zimbabwe in trouble.

Salman Ali Agha played a crucial role, dismissing both Myers and Ervine, sparking a middle-order collapse that reduced Zimbabwe to 97/5 in the 20th over.

Experienced all-rounder Sean Williams fought back with a cautious 31 from 39 balls, but his departure in the 26th over left Zimbabwe on 121/6. The tail offered little resistance as the home side was bowled out for just 145, adding only 24 more runs after Williams' dismissal.

Abrar Ahmed was the standout performer for Pakistan, taking four wickets, while Agha claimed three. Faisal Akram and Saim Ayub took one wicket each as Pakistan dominated with the ball.

Earlier, Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to bat first in the second ODI of the three-match series against Pakistan at Queens Sports Club on Tuesday.

Pakistan has made two changes to their lineup, with the inclusion of two debutants. In contrast, Zimbabwe has opted to remain unchanged from their previous lineup.

Playing XI:

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan, Tayyab Tahir, Salman Ali Agha, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Aamir Jamal, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Faisal Akram.

Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Joylord Gumbie (wk), Trevor Gwandu, Craig Ervine (c), Tawandanashe Marumani, Brandon Mavuta, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams.

Head-to-Head: Pakistan holds a dominant record in their ODI encounters with Zimbabwe, having won 54 of the 63 matches played between the two teams.

Zimbabwe has won only six times, while two matches ended with no result. The green shirts have also had the upper hand in bilateral series, winning 19 out of 21 ODIs, with Zimbabwe managing to draw two series in 1994/95 and 2013.

Both teams entered the series with contrasting recent performances. Pakistan arrived on the back of their first ODI series win in Australia since 2002, while Zimbabwe was coming off a 2-0 defeat against Sri Lanka. However, in the first ODI of the series, Zimbabwe caused a major upset by defeating Pakistan by a significant margin of 80 runs in a rain-affected match.