T20 World Cup 2022, Match 24: Pakistan vs Zimbabwe - Talking points and Who Said What?

Pakistan and last over thrillers are a match made in heaven. Unfortunately for Babar Azam, his side succumbed to another last-ball defeat, this time against the underdogs' Zimbabwe. It would be unfair on Zimbabwe to call it an upset as the African outfit edged their counterparts in almost all the departments of the game on the day to clinch a narrow one-run victory.

Before listening to skippers of both sides, we list some of the talking points from the game

Trouble in Paradise?

For a second game running, the indomitable opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan failed to make an impact with the bat in hand. The Pakistani skipper who was dismissed for a duck in the previous match managed to score just four runs this time around, while his partner returned with just 14 runs to his name. 

Build the man a statue

If you are a Zimbabwe fan, you'd probably want a statue of Sikandar Raza given the number of matches he has won for his side in the last couple of years. Raza failed with the bat but came back to haunt the Pakistanis by scalping three crucial wickets. He was named the player of the match for his decisive bowling spell of 3/25.

Old habits die hard

Pakistan's love affair with sloppy fielding continued in Perth as the Men in Green dropped as many as three catches, all regulation chances that should be taken at this level. Although skipper Babar Azam grabbed a stunning catch in the slips, the Paksitani fielding once again let the team down.

No push overs

Ireland got the better of England in one of the results of the tournament earlier in the tournament, and Zimbabwe went one better by defeating Pakistan in a thrilling finale in Perth. The so-called lesser sides are making it a habit of pulling off famous results in the T20 World Cup this year.

Losing captain, Babar Azam said:

We would have taken 130 at the halfway stage. Very disappointing performance, we are not up to the mark in batting. We have good batters but both openers got out in the powerplay. When Shadab and Shan were building partnership, unfortunately Shadab got out and then back-to-back wickets that pushed us into pressure situation. First 6 overs, we haven't used the new ball well but we finished well with the ball. We will sit out, discuss our mistakes and we will train hard and come back strong in our next game.

Winning captain, 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.

Player of the Match, Sikandar Raza said:

I am lost for words, my mouth's dry probably because of the emotions I am going through at the moment. I can't tell you how proud I'm of this bunch of boys. The way our seamers started at the top, was just unbelievable and the way we backed it up in the field and the way we kept believing, really lost for words. When we were coming to Australia, I said to my captain (Ervine), If you become Man of the Match, pick any watch from the catalogue and I'll buy you that. But if I win Man of the Match (award), you're going to buy me one. I was reminding him that he owes me three watches now. I was excited today, and I watched this clip by Ricky Ponting earlier in the morning, and that motivated me to come up with this performance. I would like to thank Ricky Ponting for that.