Shehzad's record 98* sets up 2-0 sweep
Ahmed Shehzad, in the company of his captain Mohammad Hafeez, established several records on way to plundering an unbeaten 98 against Zimbabwe
Ahmed Shehzad, in the company of his captain Mohammad Hafeez, established several records on way to plundering an unbeaten 98 against Zimbabwe
Scorer: Binoy George | Commentator: Kanishkaa Balachandran
Presentation:
Man of the Match and the Series is Ahmed Shehzad. He's loaded tonight with cheques: "Important to be consistent and I have been trying hard at it. Myself and Hafeez wanted to bat out at least 15 overs. The ball was skidding onto the bat. They bowled well too, but they didn't have the pace to bowl the quick yorkers."
Taylor: "I think they got 20 too much, our bowlers missed the mark too many times. Quite a few starts and we can improve on the partnerships. Good to see some of our batters spending time there. Guys' confidence is a lot higher than when India was here. We have to regroup."
Hafeez: "The commitment and confidence was good. Nice to see Shehzad hold the innings in both innings, today he tried to spend more time on the pitch. We were expecting 150-160 on this pitch. We all knew that we had to work hard even defending 180, on this pitch. It was good of Ajmal to give his place to Babar, good for Pakistan cricket."
So that's it from us here today. The 1st ODI begins on Tuesday. On behalf of Alagappan, this is Kanishkaa signing off. Cheers!
End of match: Mazher Arshad excitedly gives us this stat: "This is Pakistan's 13th bilateral Twenty20 series win, the most by any team. Next is South Africa with 12 wins."
Twice in as many days Brendan Taylor won the toss and chose to bowl first, reasoning that Zimbabwe were better off chasing. He might want to revisit that theory next time. Both occasions, Zimbabwe fell short, and not by narrow margins - 25 and 19 show how comprehensive the wins were. Two maiden overs of spin really bit them in the end. They got off to a good start and despite Ajmal's absence, the batsmen couldn't get on top of the spinners.
Farhan: "I think Zimbabwe didn't play that bad in both T20s. You can only do so much, when you run into an inform team fresh from wins. Zim just needs to consolidate more, they'll get better."
Syed Masroor: "Despite Hafeez's performance with the ball and bat, Ahmed Shehzad should get the MotM award. Just because he's getting the MotS award it shouldn't handicap him."
We will find out at the presentation shortly.
Ahmed Shehzad, in the company of his captain Mohammad Hafeez, established several records on way to plundering an unbeaten 98 against Zimbabwe