Pakistan eye clean sweep; Zimbabwe search for top-order form

The third ODI between Pakistan and Zimbabwe will be played in Rawalpindi today (Tuesday).

RAWALPINDI (Web Desk) - The second ODI was more representative of the respective qualities of the two sides, with Pakistan stamping their authority after a shaky performance in the first game where they struggled to move out of third gear. Zimbabwe, for their part, will be disappointed at missing out on a chance to pile on the runs after establishing a solid platform with arguably their two best batsmen, Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams, at the crease. They lost wickets to soft dismissals, demonstrating the lack of consistency that has plagued Zimbabwe for so long.

For Pakistan, anything less than a clean sweep will be looked upon as something of a failure, but they must also be seen to be giving exposure to young players in the side as calls for a generational transation in Pakistan cricket grow louder. It has, to their credit, been a series of out-with-the-old, with Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez omitted, while Haider Ali and Haris Rauf made their debuts, with Khushdil Shah set to follow on Tuesday. The jury may still be out on whether an opening pair that leaves out Fakhar Zaman is best suited to the positive cricket they need to play, and indeed if a lower middle order of Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim and Ahmed is a shade too brittle, but each has made contributions this series, and shown themselves to be fit for purpose.

Zimbabwe have more serious questions to ponder. Their best middle order is the same as their best middle order a decade ago, and while that speaks very highly of Taylor, Williams and Craig Ervine, it is worrying that no one has seriously managed to make a push for their places. Wesley Madhevere is an enormously exciting player, but with these three all in their mid-30s, Zimbabwe will hope to have replacements ready when the trio eventually do walk away.

The other serious challenge hampering Zimbabwe is a lack of genuinely probing pace and swing bowlers. Blessing Muzarabani is probably the likeliest to have a long career, but Carl Mumba and Richard Ngarava never quite mustered the threat you might expect with the new ball, and nor, over his career, has Donald Tiripano. Finding and developing quality pace is perhaps the hardest skill of all, both from a scouting and coaching perspective, but for this series, Zimbabwe lack it, and may continue to pay the price.

Zimbabwe may feel some progress has been made if they don t walk away empty handed, while Misbah-ul-Haq s Pakistan can breathe a sigh of relief if they get the whitewash, safe in the knowledge that the first series post transition appears to have gone according to plan.

With the series won, Pakistan could ring the changes. Shah may finally get a look-in, while Usman Qadir will hope to make his debut, too.

Zimbabwe were unchanged for the second game, but it continues to appear as if they re a batsman light. Ryan Burl could be brought in to shore things up, while Kamunhukamwe must surely be running Chari close.

Squads:

Pakistan (possible): 1 Fakhar Zaman/Abid Ali, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Haider Ali, 5 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Khushdil Shah, 8 Imad Wasim/Faheem Ashraf, 9 Haris Rauf, 10 Mohammad Musa, 11 Shaheen Afridi/Wahab Riaz.

Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Brian Chari/Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, 2 Chamu Chibhabha, 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Brendan Taylor (wk), 5 Sean Williams, 6 Wesley Madhevere, 7 Sikandar Raza, 8 Elton Chigumbura/Ryan Burl, 9 Carl Mumba, 10 Richard Ngarava, 11 Blessing Muzarabani.