Pakistan vs Zimbabwe, 2nd T20I - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

2271 daysis a long time and the joy of cricket coming back to Pakistan was evident on the faces of the fans. The players did not let down their countrymen and won the first T20I. A mammoth 142-run opening stand between Mukhtar Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad set the tone to the first game. Now the hosts will be hoping to take the winning momentum forward into this game. On the other hand, Zimbabwe were brilliant with the bat in the previous T20I, posting a competitive total of 172, but their bowlers let them down. They have an excellent opportunity tonight to square the series.

As in the first T20I, Zimbabwe won the toss and chose to bat. Plenty of changes for both the teams. Nauman Anwar, Imad Wasim and Mohammad Rizwan have replaced Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Hafeez. For Zimbabwe, Chamu Chibhabha and Prosper Utseya replace Tinashe Panyangara and Richmond Mutumbami.

Zimbabwe (Playing XI): Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Charles Coventry(w), Elton Chigumbura(c), Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Graeme Cremer, Chamu Chibhabha, Chris Mpofu, Brian Vitori, Prosper Utseya

Pakistan (Playing XI): Mukhtar Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi(c), Anwar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Bilawal Bhatti, Nauman Anwar, Mohammad Sami, Imad Wasim

Vusi Sibanda got off the mark with a boundary off Anwar Ali in the opening over and sliced one uppishly past cover point for three runs. Mohammad Sami bowled a quiet second over, giving away only five runs as Zimbabwe moved to 13/0 after two overs.

Hamilton Masakadza took the attack to Bilawal Bhatti in the third over, smashing one to the left of the bowler before lofting one over the bowler and opening the face of the bat for three fours in a row. Masakadza hit the first six of the innings off Sami in the fourth over, managing to clear the straight fence despite not timing the ball all that well. It was a tight over otherwise as Sami conceded a single apart from the maximum. Zimbabwe were 33/0 after four overs.

Debutant left-arm orthodox spinner Imad Wasim started with an economical over despite conceding a boundary to Masakadza. Bhatti though turned out to be expensive again, conceding eleven runs off the sixth over as the opening pair raised a half-century stand in quick time.