ON THIS DAY
Follow UsSeptember 14, 2013, was a special day for Zimbabwe cricket, not only because they had registered a Test victory over Pakistan, but more importantly the circumstances in which they were achieved.
Zimbabwe hadn’t beaten a major Test-playing nation in almost 12 years, apart from Bangladesh. Their last win had come at the same venue, Harare Sports Club, against India when Grant Flower and Stuart Carlisle had scored the most runs for them while Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut were the best bowlers.
However, a lot had changed since then. The team, which was primarily dominated by white players in 2001, was mostly black now and had undergone major political crises and player strikes on and off the field. Their self-imposed ban from Test cricket in 2006 further pushed the team to rock bottom.
Zimbabwe would next play a Test match in 2011 against Bangladesh, which they had won. However, the five-year gap from Test cricket and poor domestic and grassroot levels setup significantly affected the nation’s cricketing standards.
The Zimbabwe team was whitewashed by Pakistan and West Indies once each and New Zealand twice from 2011 to 2013, before they managed to beat Pakistan in 2013. And the situation wasn’t convenient this time either.
Legendary Zimbabwe bowler Heath Streak, who was the bowling coach for the team, was sacked six months ago owing to cost-saving measures while the players were on strike for not getting salaries. The Test match was originally scheduled to take place in Bulawayo before the cricket board shifted it to Harare to save $50,000 in expenses.
Eventually, the cricket board, which was $15 million in debt then, decided to pay half of the players’ salary in a bid to convince them to play the second Test match.
Zimbabwe’s win, though, wasn't a distant conclusion, given how they had performed in the first Test match. Runs from Sikandar Raza (60), Malcolm Waller (70) and Elton Chigumbura (69) had seen the side total 327 in the first innings to take a 78-run lead against Pakistan before a second innings meltdown saw them losing by a mammoth 221 runs.
The confidence was evident and Zimbabwe started the second Test with a strong 294 runs in the first innings, before a fifer by Brian Vitori and a three-wicket haul by Tinashe Panyangara wrapped Pakistan up for just 230 runs.
Taking a 64-run lead from the first innings, Zimbabwe could score only 199 runs at their second dig to hand Pakistan a 264-run target. The hosts needed a strong bowling display this time again and 22-year-old Tendai Chatara stood up to the occasion.
The final day began on a well-balanced note, with Zimbabwe needing five wickets and Pakistan requiring 106 runs to win the match. And with veteran Misbah-ul-Haq at the crease, the visitors looked more than optimistic.
But, Pakistan lost Adnan Akmal, Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal in the next 84 runs with Misbah and Junaid Khan at the crease. The four overs post-lunch with the old ball was Misbah’s best chance although he had to protect Junaid at the non-striker’s end simultaneously.
An intelligent Misbah did well to hit boundaries and take singles to keep Junaid at bay but couldn’t save the Pakistan bowler from facing the new ball. Pakistan had just two wickets remaining and Chatara sent Junaid Khan back to the pavilion with his fourth delivery with the new ball.
With just 25 runs left, Misbah didn’t want in-coming batsman Rahat Ali to face many balls and the chaos eventually resulted in a mess at the middle of the crease with the latter getting run-out in the process.
Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor had praised his team’s quick learning after the match. “Beating a world-class team is a great feeling. The great thing about this time is that everybody contributed. We’ve matured very quickly. We were a little more determined this time.”
