Pakistan vs Zimbabwe, 1st Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

That is a wrap of the tri-series opener. Zimbabwe lock horns with Sri Lanka next on Thursday. Same time, same venue. Do remember to tune in for that. Cheers!!

Salman Agha | Pakistan skipper: It was a close game. I think we started well in both departments - bowling and batting - and when you don’t start well the games get tight towards the end. The spinners have been doing well for the past 4–5 months. Whoever comes on - Saim (Ayub), Nawaz, or Abrar - they always take wickets and don’t give many runs. They brought us back into the game. Last night when I saw the pitch, I knew it wouldn’t be very high-scoring. Normally Rawalpindi is high-scoring, but recently it hasn’t been. I thought 160–180 would be par. We bowled well, and while chasing 147 I was happy, but we didn’t start well in the powerplay. After that, we had to play accordingly. We need to start well - both bowling and batting. In the powerplay we must be ruthless, whether scoring runs or taking wickets. In T20s you must start well. We have a few days off now, so we’ll rest properly.

Sikandar Raza | Zimbabwe skipper: I didn’t think that was a good total on this wicket. On these wickets you need proper batsmanship. It was either a dot or a swing. Watching the game, I realised someone had to grind and build a partnership. We just couldn’t find one. Had we done that, I think 160–165 would have been a par score. The guys were trying, and we can’t fault their intent. Pakistan has mystery and quality spinners - Saim, Nawaz, Abrar - they’re not easy to put away. Had we kept 6–7 an over with wickets in hand, we could’ve attacked earlier. But every time I tried to push, we lost a wicket. I felt if we could somehow get to 160, we had a good chance - especially with the dew. The last 10 overs were easier to bat. We were banking on early wickets to put Pakistan under pressure. There wasn’t much turn, but it was a bit stoppy, which makes hitting spinners tough. You look for singles but end up with dots. With our seam and spin attack, 160 would have been par. More positives than negatives. But we must learn to cross the line - that last hurdle. We were far off not long ago, but we’ve made great strides. Now we must start finishing games. These conditions aren’t easy - the wickets, weather, fog, visibility under lights, especially fielding second. But that’s why we love this game - every challenge brings opportunities to find solutions and take our country forward.

Mohammad Nawaz | Player of the Match: Of course, feeling good, start of the series, and when you get a good start, it gives you more confidence, and as a team, win was very important for us, and we won the game, and it will help us a lot going forward in the tournament. I think it’s a little difficult sometimes, but still, as a bowler, whatever my plan was, I was just trying to stick with that, and keep it basic, and just try to bowl in a good area, and pitch was a little bit helping me as well, so yeah. I think it’s a little bit different. Rawalpindi, because it’s my home ground, so it’s always a high-scoring game here, but today it played a little bit different. Yes, I feel that I’m right on the top of the game, but T20 cricket, you know, it’s within one or two over momentum change, and it shifts, so you have to be on top all the time, and keep reading the situation of the game, and that’s what we did very good today, I think. I want to dedicate this award to my family and kids.

21:28 local, 16:28 GMT, 21:58 IST: The top-scorer of the game - Brian Bennett - mentioned that it was a below-par score at the halfway mark. He was spot on with his remark, but Zimbabwe did not make life easy for the hosts with the ball. They had an excellent opening set where they removed Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam and Salman Agha in the space of 10 balls, ending the powerplay at 31/3. 4 overs later, Saim Ayub fell to the legspin of Cremer and things looked really shaky for Pakistan at 54/4. The experienced Fakhar Zaman, however, did not let the pressure get to him. Took his time at the start and picked his hitting options smartly to engineer a 61-run stand with Usman Khan for the 5th wicket. Zimbabwe missed their lengths in the last 3 overs and a bit of lackadaisical effort in the field did not help their cause either. Stick around for the post-match reactions...

Pakistan one hit away from sealing this...

17 needed off 12 No-one outside the circle behind square on the off-side...