ISLAMABAD - Sluggish Pakistan finally managed to win a one-day series against Zimbabwe with a massive 108-run win in last ODI. It was back-to-back convincing victories for Pakistan who otherwise struggled to ward off a weak Zimbabwean side in two T20s and then succumbed to defeat in the first ODI. But the manner of victories in last two ODIs is satisfactory one and it can be hoped that they would gather more momentum in the upcoming Test series against the minnows before colliding with mighty South African side in the Dubai desert next month.
Pakistan need to improve quickly and overcome their minor mistakes as Proteas series is not going to be an easy task. South Africans would punish each and every mistake of Pakistani players and they would not allow them to stabilize if once they get themselves exposed to them. Green caps still have a month or so to prepare themselves for the stern African test at the neutral venues of UAE.
Pakistani openers provided a perfect platform for a big total but Misbah, as usual, played very slowly and wasted too many precious deliveries in the middle of the innings. Pakistan could have scored more than 300 runs if Misbah could able to rotate the strike as he at one stage he had played 50 plus deliveries and scored only 17 runs.
With only two wickets down, someone like Afridi should be sent up the order to make quick runs, but Misbah preferred himself, which resulted in only 260 runs on the board but Pakistani spinners were too hot to handle for the hosts as wickets kept on trembling at regular intervals. Saeed Ajmal, who looked off colour in the early matches, bounced back in style and looked at his usual best in the last two ODIs and he was almost unplayable. Although he just took two wickets but it was his pressure which helped in other spinners to cash on.
Rehman bowled exceptionally well in ODIs as his accurate line and length and moving deliveries caused too many problems to the batsmen. Shahid Afridi never looked even close to what he is capable of, his wayward and short pitch deliveries were too easy to handle for the host batsmen.
Fast bowling department is an area of real concern for the team management which may prove a real headache in Test series. Junaid Khan may prove a success in Tests but Wahab Riaz is not the ideal bowler ideal for Zimbabwean conditions and there is no other fast bowler upon which team can rely on providing early wickets. It looks most likely that green caps would struggle hard in the longer version of the game even against Zimbabwean batsmen who had not played enough Test cricket recently.
The real test of Pakistan team calibre and coaching staff will start in the Test series. Selectors should have given chance to genuine all-rounders, as this is the tailor-made situation to give chance to bidding players but situation is completely different when it comes to select a team in Pakistan, as merit doesn't exists.