Hasan Ali bagged a complete of 9 wickets whereas middle-order batsman Fawad Alam hit a century as Pakistan trounced host Zimbabwe inside three days by an innings and 116 runs within the first Test match on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Ali produced an admirable spell of quick bowling at Harare Sports Club, various his tempo and lengths brilliantly on the third day, ending with figures of 5-36 after Zimbabwe wanted to attain over 250 runs to make Pakistan bat once more.
The right-armer, named participant of the match, eliminated Kevin Kasuza (28) Donald Tiripano (2), Tendai Chisoro (0), Blessing Muzarabani (2) and Richard Ngarava (5) because the African facet was bundled for 134 runs in its second innings.
Earlier within the match, Ali (4-53) mixed with fellow opening bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi (4-43) to select up eight wickets to rattle Zimbabwe’s batting lineup, which collapsed to 176 all out within the first innings on batting wicket.
☝️ 4/53 and 5/36🔥 Crossed 50 Test wickets
Hasan Ali is the Player of the Match for his terrific efficiency within the first #ZIMvPAK Test 👏
📸 @ZimCricketv pic.twitter.com/RZSbWTiWUh
— ICC (@ICC) May 1, 2021
In response, Pakistan confirmed aplomb, with the opening pair of Imran Butt (91) and Abid Ali (60) reaching 115 runs collectively on the prime of the order.
Alam, the 35-year-old left-hander, then took over with a managed innings. Continuing on 108 not out from the second day, Alam confronted 204 balls and cracked 20 boundaries earlier than he was dismissed by Zimbabwe tempo bowler Muzarabani for 140.
A weakened Zimbabwe facet, below stand-in captain Brendan Taylor rather than the injured Sean Williams, fielded three debutants in batsman Milton Shumba, Roy Kaia alongside pacer Richard Ngarava. Pakistan handed a debut to bowling allrounder Sajid Khan.
Pakistan, which is on a robust run of kind in limited-overs cricket, is now the favorite to clinch the two-match check sequence towards out-of-sorts Zimbabwe. The second match begins subsequent Friday on the identical venue.
Zimbabwe is determined to show its longer-format pedigree, having drawn its final Test sequence towards minnows Afghanistan within the United Arab Emirates.
