The often overlooked Zimbabwe team shook the cricketing world to the core on Thursday night when they defeated Pakistan by 1 run at the Perth stadium in their T20 World Cup encounter.
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The nation was watching with bated breaths as the last over began with Pakistan needing 11 runs from it. After getting tonked for a 3 and a four with fuller balls, bowler Brad Evans adjusted to hit the hard length for three of the final 4 balls. The result? Zimbabweans were screaming their heads off and lying on the ground in joy. The fourth was a rasping seamer that beat the bat. Dot ball.
The fifth, another hard length, was weakly shovelled to mid-off by Nawaz, and Mohammad Wasim Jr sunk to the ground. He was not on strike, and probably knew the game was up. It was. The final ball was the surprise fuller one but Shaheen Afridi could only hit to mid-on. They ran hard, and there was even a fumble by the wicketkeeper Regis Chakabwa, who had already effected the stumping of the tournament with a quick leg-side work to take out Shan Masood, recovered to do the job.
That winning feeling 🙌#PAKvZIM | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/7lxwYaHWpA
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— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) October 27, 2022
As soon as Shaheen Afridi fell short of the crease in the last ball, resulting in a run out, Zimbabwe fans, watching on television, erupted with joy, a video shared from the official Zimbabwe Cricket Twitter showed. Celebrations began as the Zimbabwe fans in Australia and the ones far away in the native land, became one.
The Zimbabwe flag was held aloft and the fans sang for their heroes as Zimbabwe left an imprint on the World Cup and made Pakistan’s semifinal road a bit more difficult.
