Pakistan v Zimbabwe first Test: Zimbabwe 176 all out, Pakistan 103 not out
When Zimbabwe captain Brendon Taylor was going to the toss with Babar Azam, he must have remembered the victory of 2013 when under his leadership Zimbabwe beat Pakistan by just 24 runs to level the Test series. ۔
The captain of the Pakistan team that suffered the shocking defeat was Misbah-ul-Haq, who is in the same dressing room in Harare today as the head coach of the Pakistani team and would not want history to repeat itself.
He is eagerly awaiting his first Test victory abroad under his coaching staff so that what could not be done in Australia, England, and New Zealand can now be done in Zimbabwe.
Who beat Shaheen Afridi and Hassan Ali?
Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first, scoring 176 runs in two sessions. It should come as no surprise that the team is without its captain Sean Williams, veteran batsman Alexander Raza and Craig Irwin.
Three of his 11 players are playing their first Test and the remaining eight players have managed to score a century in just 81 Tests apart from Brendon Taylor's six centuries in just one Test.
Zimbabwe was already on the back foot after losing four wickets in the first session.
Hassan Ali did not give Kevin Ksouza a chance to open an account.
After a break in the T20 series, Imran Butt was ready at every moment in the slip to catch Prince Misaware off Shaheen Afridi's ball. Babar Azam introduced spin bowling while Noman Ali won the first ball of his fourth over by making room in the bat and pad of Moza Kanda.
Noman Ali would have managed to get Milton Shumba out for zero in the next over if Babar Azam had not caught in the slip. Babar Azam also dropped another catch of Shumba on the ball of Faheem Ashraf, when he was on 27 runs. The hosts' biggest hope was captain Brendon Taylor, but Faheem Ashraf's catch in the third slip off Hassan Ali's ball brought frustration to the Zimbabwean dressing room.
Imran Butt came into action again when Sajid Khan took wickets on his throw and ran out Milton Shumba who had made a half-century partnership with Roy Kaya.
Roy Kaya saved an end but was made LBW by Hassan Ali on a score of 48 and then in the next over he also got the wicket of Regis Chakboa thanks to another catch by Imran Butt in the slip.
Imran Butt has taken eight catches in three Tests so far and his slip catches have reminded him of Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Iqbal Qasim and Younis Khan. The expectation is that they will also prove their choice in batting. In the second session, Shaheen Shah Afridi's bowling was in full swing and he took three wickets off just 15 balls.
What happened in Pakistan's innings?
The Pakistani team had 30 overs to bat in the last session in which both openers Imran Butt and Abid Ali played with confidence and managed to take the score to 103.
Sitting in the Pakistani dressing room, captain Babar Azam and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq certainly breathed a sigh of relief over Abid Ali's half-century, who had failed to score big in 10 innings since his half-century in Southampton last year. Imran Butt had come close to a half-century after overcoming four failed innings in his debut series.
Sajid Khan instead of Zahid Mahmood
Till yesterday, there were rumors that league sniper Zahid Mehmood would play a Test match in the absence of Yasir Shah, but on the morning of the match, the (Test cap) of sniper Sajid Khan was placed on his head.
Twenty-seven-year-old Sajid Khan hails from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in this season's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, he took 67 wickets in 11 matches and made it to the squad for the home series against South Africa. There was an opportunity.
Hassan Ali is equally effective in every format
Hassan Ali doesn't care if he has a white ball in his hand or a red one, he knows the art of taking wickets in every format.
After taking 10 wickets in the Pindi Test against South Africa, he was the man of the match by taking four wickets in the T20 International against Zimbabwe a few days ago and today on the first day of the Test match he made a remarkable performance of four wickets. Remain prominent for a reason.