Mohammad Irfan used his height to full effect to take four wickets as Pakistan defended a low total against Zimbabwe to get its World Cup campaign back on track with a 20-run victory on Sunday. The gamble to drop experienced batsman Younus Khan in favor of Rahat Ali to bolster the bowling attack paid off on the fast, bouncy wicket at the Gabba, after coming into question when Pakistan was restricted to 235-7 after winning the toss and batting.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scored 73 in more than 42 overs to hold the innings together after going to the crease at 4-2 in the fourth over, while Wahab Riaz hit an unbeaten 54 from 46 balls in a late cameo. The 7-foot-1 Irfan had Zimbabwe reeling at 22-2 in reply, and returned in his second spell to snuff out a dangerous partnership, finishing with a career-best 4-30. Riaz chipped in with a haul of 4-45, taking the last wicket as Zimbabwe was bowled out in the last over for 215.
“The team fought really well — special credit goes to the bowlers, they just kept the pressure, kept taking wickets,” Misbah said. “That’s the key in this World Cup, even if you’re defending a low total, if you have the bowlers who can take wickets at different intervals, you can really penetrate. Irfan really started well ... right from the start, just put (Zimbabwe) back under pressure.”
Irfan had 2-8 in his opening five-over spell and took a wicket with the first ball of his second spell to end a promising 52-run third-wicket partnership when Hamilton Masakadza (29) misjudged the pace and skied an attempted drive high to Misbah at mid-off. Brendan Taylor continued with Sean Williams (33) in a 54-run fourth-wicket partnership but when he was caught behind off Riaz moments after reaching 50, the total slipped to 128-4 and there was a sense of inevitableness about the result.
Pakistan was coming off big losses to India and the West Indies and the 1992 champions were vulnerable coming into the Gabba match, knowing that another loss could lead to an early exit. “We certainly did target this match and we felt that half the job was done particularly well, restricting them to 235,” Taylor said. “But they came out the first 15 overs and made it pretty difficult for us and bowled some heavy balls, and it was difficult to score ... it was extremely difficult to comprehend this loss.”
While he described Irfan’s performance as “world class,” Taylor said the resilience of Pakistan skipper Misbah was the main difference between the teams. “Credit to Misbah, he was the glue of their innings. He created partnerships — partnerships we didn’t have,” Taylor said. Zimbabwe was in control of the game for the first 40 overs, due to the opening spell of Tendai Chatara (3-35) who dismissed Nasir Jamshed (1) and Ahmed Shehzad (0) in the first four overs.
Haris Sohail (27), Umar Akmal (33) and Sohail Maqsood (21) contributed for Pakistan but the innings was labored from the start, and didn’t pass 50 until the 19th over. Things got worse for Pakistan as it slid to 127-5 in the 34th over when Williams took two wickets within three balls with his slow left-arm line, bowling Akmal and Shahid Afridi, who was out for a duck.
Bickering over selection
The ongoing cold war between PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and his predecessor Najam Sethi came out into the open over selection matters. Shaharyar said he would like to see wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed play. He also made it clear that out of form Nasir Jamshed needed to be replaced by Sarfaraz in the eleven and he should open.
“I am very happy to see Pakistan win but the team needs to show more improvement to progress further,” he said. But if Khan was clear in his mind about the need for Sarfaraz to play than Najam Sethi had a differing view. “I don’t think I would want to interfere in selection matters and it is for experts to comment,” Sethi said.