Zimbabwe vs Pakistan: Luke Jongwe turns Tabraiz Shamsi 2.0 in second T20I at Harare

Luke Jongwe was exceptional in Zimbabwe’s second T20I against Pakistan on Friday, April 23, at the Harare Sports Club. He turned up with the Player of the Match award as the hosts won their first-ever T20I against Babar Azam and Co, getting home by 19 runs. While defending 118, the home team bowled the opposition out for a mere 99 in 19.5 overs.

Jongwe was the standout bowler as he picked up the crucial wickets of openers, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar. Then in his last spell, he accounted for the wickets of Haris Rauf and Arshad Iqbal. In 3.5 overs, the speedster gave away only 18 runs at an economy rate of 4.70. In the meantime, Jongwe also grabbed the limelight due to his celebrations.

The 26-year-old tried to imitate Tabraiz Shamsi’s shoe-calling celebration after taking a wicket. The latter is known for his different types of celebrations on picking up wickets.

Here’s the video

Shamsi's brother spotted in Zimbabwe ❤️@shamsi90 #PakvZim #ZimvPak #Cricket #BabarAzam pic.twitter.com/YQ6T80qjZ4

— Noman Views (@Noman2294) April 23, 2021

Luke Jongwe spills the beans

Later, Jongwe admitted that he tried to copy the South African bowler. The youngster also talked about changing one’s pace on a difficult strip to bat on.

“I just want to thank Almighty for this game and my teammates as well as coach. It got difficult to bat later on in the innings and I just kept varying the pace, something that I’m good at. (On his celebration) I tried copying it from Shamsi of South Africa,” Jogwe was quoted as saying after the match.

Brendan Taylor, who returned as the skipper, was skeptical about Zimbabwe winning the game after a poor batting performance. However, he was happy to see his team get over the line.

“Big turnaround from the first game and that’s all that you can ask of your players. They executed the plans superbly. I’d be lying if I say that I was confident (of defending 118) but we dug deep in the powerplay. We managed to squeeze Pakistan, and our commitment and dedication helped us get over the line,” Taylor stated.

With the series level at 1-1, the third and final game is set to be played on Sunday, April 25 at the Harare Sports Club.