Pakistan ease past depleted Zimbabwe in T20 opener

Harare, July 1: Pakistan breezed past a depleted Zimbabwe by 74 runs on Sunday in the first match of a tri-series also featuring Australia.

Zimbabwe's hopes of pulling off a shock in Harare appeared slim with key men Brendan Taylor, Sikandar Raza, Graeme Cremer, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine all absent.

And so it proved as Fakhar Zaman's 40-ball 61 helped Pakistan to a healthy total of 182-4, before the hosts were skittled for just 108 in response.

"The only bright point was winning the toss," said Zimbabwe skipper Hamilton Masakadza.

Fakhar struck three fours and as many sixes before departing in the 15th over. At that point, Pakistan had only 120 on the board, but Shoaib Malik (37 not out) and Asif Ali (41no) raised the tempo in the closing overs, the latter hitting four maximums.

For his blazing innings (41 off 21 balls, 4s-1 & 6s-4) @AasifAli2018 is the Man of the Match. #ZIMvPAK #TriSeries pic.twitter.com/tetS6Uuivo

— PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) July 1, 2018

Solomon Mire (27) and debutant Tarisai Musakanda (43) were the only batsmen to offer any resistance in reply as Pakistan's bowlers shared the wickets around.

To add injury to insult for Zimbabwe, seamer Kyle Jarvis suffered a suspected broken thumb as he attempted a diving catch at long-on when Fakhar was on 58.

Source: OPTA