Confident Pakistan eye ODI clean sweep against Zimbabwe

Pakistan and Zimbabwe are all set to face each other in the third One-day International (ODI) at Bulawayo today, as Men in Green eye an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

With less than a year until 2019 World Cup in England and Wales, the teams are looking to be fully prepared for the showpiece. Similarly, the Pakistan team's head coach Mickey Arthur and captain Sarfraz Ahmed have previously said there is more than just winning the series against Zimbabwe, as this will also give them the opportunity to see what other players can bring to the table.

While Sarfraz reiterated the idea that some changes could be made, the skipper hinted in his post-match press conference that there will be no changes until the series is all but won. “There are chances of a couple of teams shuffling but first we want to win the series,” he revealed.

His statement might mean that cricket fans won’t be seeing spinner Yasir Shah in action until Pakistan take an unassailable lead. Yasir hasn’t played an ODI since August 2016 against England.

It’s integral that if Zimbabwe want to pull off an unlikely victory, captain Hamilton Masakadza will need his bowlers to raise their game and put Zaman under constant pressure to get Pakistan’s danger man out early.

If Shadab proved to be the wrecker-in-chief with the ball in the opening ODI with figures of 4-32, then it was the pace duo of Hasan Ali (3-32) and Usman Khan (4-32) who did the damage in the second match.

Luckily for Zimbabwe, the team managed to performed on Monday with captain Hamilton Masakadza and Peter Moor hitting half-centuries. The previous match was a major improvement from the first ODI where Ryan Murray’s unbeaten 32 was the hosts’ highest score.