Cricket: Misbah stands firm as Pakistan stumble
- September 13, 2013, 10:47 pm
- Sports News
- 189 Views
HARARE, Sept 13 (APP/AFP) - Pakistan captain
Misbah-ul-Haq stood firm as his side lost five wickets chasing victory on the fourth day of the second Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Friday.
Set 264 to win, Pakistan were 158 for five at the close of play, setting up a tense last day with Zimbabwe having a realistic chance of sharing the series and earning a rare victory against one of cricket's major nations.
Misbah was unbeaten on 26 and will resume batting on Saturday with
wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal (17 not out), with Pakistan needing
another 106 runs to win.
Pakistan made an aggressive start to the chase after bowling
out Zimbabwe for 199, breaking a trend of slow scoring on a
wearing, cracked pitch. But they were forced to become more cautious
as the Zimbabwe bowlers struck at regular intervals.
First-change bowler Tendai Chatara made a crucial breakthrough
when he dismissed Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali in quick
succession to reduce Pakistan to 46 for two in the 12th over.
Opening batsman Manzoor Ahmed stroked his way to
his second half-century of the match, hitting 11 fours in an innings
of 54 before he was caught at short leg off off-spinner Prosper Utseya.
That brought Misbah in to join fellow veteran Younis
Khan but Pakistan suffered a huge blow when Younis was bowled
for 29, shaping to play left-armer Brian Vitori to leg and losing his leg stump.
Misbah might have given a difficult chance when he was on 14, with
wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami diving far to his right but unable to
hold on to a low deflection.
But Mutumbami made no mistake when Asad Shafiq tried to cut
Utseya and top-edged the ball into the wicketkeeper's gloves.
Chatara finished the day with two for 29 from 13 overs,
while Utseya had two for 40 from 13 overs.
Earlier, left-arm opening bowler Rahat Ali took five for
52 as Zimbabwe were bowled out after adding only 78 runs to their overnight 121 for four.
Rahat made the first breakthrough of the day when he had Vusi Sibanda
caught behind for 10 and he followed up with the key wicket of
Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor, who made 27 off 83 balls, as well as tail-ender Chatara.
Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal claimed two wickets and left-arm fast
bowler Junaid Khan one as Pakistan kept the Zimbabwe batsmen under pressure.
Pakistan won the first Test at the same venue by 221 runs.
Zimbabwe have only won 10 of their previous 93 Test matches, with
six of the wins coming against fellow minnows Bangladesh. But
they have beaten Pakistan on two occasions, in 1994/95 and
1998/99. They have also beaten India twice, most recently
in 2000/01.
