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Zimbabwe punched above their weight and stunned Pakistan by one run in a nail-biting T20 World Cup match on Thursday (October 27).
Defending a modest 131, Zimbabwe stifiled the Pakistani batters and picked up wickets at regular intervals to stop their fancied rivals at 129/8.
Pakistan-born all-rounder Sikandar Raza turned the match on its head in the middle overs with figures of 3 for 25 from his four overs, which included the wickets of Shan Masood (44), Shahdab Khan (17) and Haider Ali.
Right-arm pacer Brad Evans returned with figures of 2/25, while Blessing Muzarabani (1/18) and Luke Jongwe (1/10) also picked up wickets, to help their side to an incredible win.
Shan Masood, who remained the top scorer for Pakistan, admitted that his side let the match slip out of their match.
"We are very disappointed," he told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.
"I don't think we're a batting unit that can't achieve a target of 130.
"We just had to finish the game off. It's very disappointing that, when push came to shove and [the] pressure came on, we let it slip.
"We have to give credit to Zimbabwe, they came out of the blocks quickly. Once you've got that start, however bad you play, you still get to a score that you can fight for," he further added.
It was Pakistan's second defeat in as many matches after the four-wicket loss to arch-rivals India in another thrilling contest.
For Zimbabwe, it was their first win from two matches. The African side had earlier split points with South Africa following a washout.
For the second time in the tournament, star Pakistani openers -- skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan -- failed to provide a good start.
Babar looked tentative before he was squared up by a seaming fuller length delivery from Evans.
An over later, Rizwan played on to the stumps a Muzarabani delivery while trying to cut a ball, which was too close to his body.
Meanwhile, in the post match presentation Zimbabwe skipper Craig Ervine said," So special. Especially for the work we did to get into the Super 12s. We did not want our tournament to end there. We wanted to come in and play some really good cricket against top teams and we did that exceptionally well today. I thought after our batting performance, we thought we were maybe 20-25 short, but I thought our seamers hit their straps early on. Raza again came to the party as he always does and picked up a few crucial wickets in the middle there. I think he's (Raza) got three Man of the Matches, so I'm gonna be broke by the time we get home. Also I want to thank the Zimbabwean supporters that came out today to suppport us. You guys really lift our spirits wherever we go, so special thanks".
