Former T20 World champions Pakistan have suffered quite a disastrous start to their tournament, with two losses in nail-biting thrillers against arch-rivals India and then against Zimbabwe. Although both games were closely contested towards the end, Pakistan would have expected themselves to have closed out both games much earlier, particularly against the Zimbabweans.
Kohli’s magnificent 82* pulled India out of a deep hole after the Pakistan pacers did a great job in the opening half of the innings to reduce India to 31/4. However, Virat Kohli was absolutely scintillating as he was able to manipulate the field in incredible fashion, finding the boundary with ridiculous ease towards the end, before which his running between the wickets along with Hardik Pandya was simply stunning.
Against Zimbabwe, Pakistan did a great job with the ball, restricting their opponents to 129, but somehow ended up bottling what should have been a reasonably comfortable chase. The Zimbabwean fast bowlers Blessing Muzarabani, Brad Evans, and Richard Ngarva did a great job, hitting the deck hard, not allowing the Pakistan batsmen any easy runs.
Meanwhile, Sikandar Raza produced a fabulous performance with ball in hand after a forgettable outing with the bat, picking up three wickets in an outstanding spell. Zimbabwe scripted a fantastic victory, which they achieved off the last ball, while Pakistan seemed stunned in disbelief.
The loss was particularly hard on Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan, who had also done a great job with the ball, with 3/23 in his four overs. After the game, footage of the Pakistan dressing room revealed a teary-eyed Shadab Khan sobbing with buried hands while he lay on his knees.
Khan seemed inconsolable as a member of the support staff tried to offer him solace. It was surely a tough pill to swallow for Khan, who has been vocal about his expectations from the team in the past few months.
Pakistan now face a tough path for qualification, as they will have to rely on other results. Babar Azam’s men will also be hoping for the weather to favour them if they are to qualify at all.
