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Zimbabwe’s top-heavy batting line-up never looked in contention in a chase of 196

Danyal Rasool23-Nov-2025There are wins that seal two points, and wins that damage the opposition’s net run rate enough to imperil their path to the final. A half-century from Babar Azam and an Usman Tariq hat-trick walloped Zimbabwe by 69 runs to dent their net run-rate and keep Sri Lanka in contention for the tri-series final on Saturday. It is a final Pakistan are guaranteed to play now, having won all of their first three games. Pakistan’s 195 quickly became academic for a Zimbabwe unit that didn’t have the firepower to challenge it, and found themselves shot out for 126.After winning the toss and batting first, Saim Ayub looked to take full advantage of the powerplay. In a breezy cameo, he struck a pair of early sixes before finding a fielder. Sahibzada Farhan and Babar shifted through the gears through their partnership as they controlled the pacing of their innings, setting up Fakhar Zaman and the middle order for a big finish.Zimbabwe’s top heavy T20I batting line-up meant they could not afford to leave too much work for anyone outside the top five, but in pursuit of 196, risk-taking was inevitable. The warning signs were there when Tadiwanashe Marumani tamely spooned Naseem Shah to cover point. Brian Bennett and Brendan Taylor followed soon after, and the only resistance Zimbabwe offered came in the form of a 34-run partnership between Ryan Burl and Sikandar Raza.With Tariq’s hat-trick running through the visitors at speed, Burl suddenly found himself fighting a lone hand at one end. Somewhat curiously, he appeared disinterested in farming the strike right up until he began to approach his half-century. He would get there in style with a six off Naseem, and while he remained unbeaten, the same could emphatically not be said of his team-mates.Babar, Sahibzada take Zimbabwe onAfter Ayub holed out following a flashy start, it was left to Farhan and Babar – two men who have recently returned to form – to maintain Pakistan’s momentum. The pair went about their business in contrasting fashion. Farhan was intent on making the most of the powerplay, looking to heave at deliveries and partially riding his luck. Even so, the first 20 balls saw him score 32 runs, while Babar was characteristically sedate, looking to get himself in before launching. In his first 20, he had managed less than half of Farhan’s output, with 15 runs on the board.Babar Azam began sedately but accelerated after bedding in•PCBBut they appeared clear-headed about the target they wanted to set, and picked their moment to launch. Babar dispatched Sikandar Raza for a couple of boundaries in the 12th over, with both targeting the next few overs. Farhan brought up the hundred partnership with a colossal six down the ground as Pakistan set themselves up for the final five overs. Raza snared him next ball, but he had scored 63 off 41, and by the time Babar holed out in the deep, his 52-ball 74 had more than made up for the quiet start.The back-end onslaughtWith wickets to spare in the final five overs, Pakistan shuffled their batting order, but everyone had the license for uninhibited attack. Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Nawaz were promoted but failed to fire, with Babar keeping the run rate soaring as he took down Brad Evans and Raza in overs that produced 16 and 11 respectively.When Raza removed Babar, though, Zimbabwe enjoyed an over or so of calm, but all that hard work would be undone in a stunning final over. Fakhar, sent in at No. 7 in a career-first, smashed three sixes and a four off the hapless Evans, plundering 25 in the over to rocket Pakistan to a tournament-best 195. That Evans appeared to have dismissed him off the innings’ final delivery, only for it to be called a no-ball and for Fakhar to dispatch the free hit for six, added insult to injury.Usman Tariq’s hat-trickThe phrase “why did he do that” has become instantly recognisable among Pakistan supporters since it was immortalised when Shannon Gabriel attempted to attack spinner Yasir Shah when on the verge of saving a Test match. Today, Wellington Masakadza attempted something similar when seeing off Tariq’s hat-trick delivery.The offspinner had dismissed Tony Munyonga when he edged a sweep to short fine, and the following ball Tashinga Musekiwa was cleaned up. With fielders crowding around the bat for the hat-trick delivery, Masakadza opted to loft Tariq into the onside. Long-on was perfectly positioned to take the catch, and Tariq was gifted a hat-trick that ensured Zimbabwe would fall to a huge defeat.

This has not been a good week for Chelsea Football Club.

Down to ten men against league leaders Arsenal, they did at least salvage some pride from that game. To hold one of the best sides in Europe, if not the best side in Europe this season to a 1-1 draw with fewer players is certainly reason to celebrate.

However, a week on from defeating Barcelona in the Champions League, this midweek was a great deal more frustrating for Enzo Maresca and Co.

A game against Leeds United should have been easy, right? Think again. The Blues lost 3-1 and slipped further behind the Gunners in the race for the title. That dream looks over for another year, but according to Maresca, there is one big reason to remain positive.

Maresca shares good news for Chelsea

Maresca has admitted that Cole Palmer’s return to action at Elland Road was the only positive.

The attacking midfielder has been absent for a large portion of the season but has been back among the matchday squad across the last two games.

Palmer came off the bench in the 61st minute for his first outing since late September after toes and groin problems and understandably, that was the only consolation Chelsea’s Italian gaffer could extract from such a horror night on the road.

Maresca said: “Probably it’s the only good news of the night. I’m happy for him, he’s back, now he needs to build a little bit the physical condition and he will be important for us, for sure.

“He’s getting better, but he needs to play minutes. He had more-or-less half-an-hour, hopefully we can give him more in the next game.”

Palmer has been a breathtaking signing at Stamford Bridge, notably bagging 18 goals and registering 14 assists in all competitions for his club last season.

Well, Maresca will certainly need his talisman to rediscover that form after dropping points in consecutive fixtures.

Speaking about the result, the former Leicester City manager stated: “When you play the last two games against Barcelona and Arsenal, you expect a better performance, no doubt.

“But, for many reasons, it’s not going to be possible for every game again, because we change players, because we have players that we said many times it’s not possible to play every two, three days. When you change players, also the level drops, that is the reality, because they are important players for us. Moises, Reece (James), with these kind of players, we cannot use them every game. It’s impossible, because otherwise they can get injury again and be out for months.”

Chelsea are now fourth in the table after Aston Villa defeated Brighton in midweek. While the Blues looked in something of a title race last week, they are now nine points off top spot.

For the World Champions, you would expect that their hopes now rest on the cup competitions for the rest of the ongoing season.

As bad as Tosin: Maresca's 4/10 flop must never start for Chelsea again

Chelsea’s title hopes seemingly went up in smoke away at Leeds United.

ByRobbie Walls Dec 4, 2025

A red soil surface at a new Test venue, an early start, and the possibility of bad light in the evening awaits India and South Africa

Karthik Krishnaswamy20-Nov-20256:22

‘Gambhir took the blame because he felt curators should not be blamed’

After the events of Kolkata, how will Guwahati play out? What kind of pitch can we expect at the Barsapara Stadium? What do India, 1-0 down after losing to South Africa inside three days on an Eden Gardens pitch with deadly uneven bounce, want from the surface?Two days out from the second India-South Africa Test, this much can be said about the Guwahati pitch: it is a red-soil surface with an even covering of grass — similar to the one used in Ahmedabad for the first Test against West Indies last month, though less green, and a certain amount of grass is likely to be mown off before the match begins. The pitch was watered on Thursday afternoon.These signs point to certain intentions: for a pitch that provides bounce and holds together well at least for the first two days or so, before becoming increasingly amenable to spin.Intentions, however, don’t always translate to what actually happens when the match begins. And this, according to India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, is what played out in Kolkata.Related

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Four days after India head coach Gautam Gambhir had said they had got “exactly the pitch we were looking for” at Eden Gardens, and that the curator had been “very, very helpful” in providing it, Kotak said this wasn’t what happened. Gambhir spoke as he did, Kotak said, to divert flak away from curator Sujan Mukherjee and onto himself, and that neither India nor the curator had wanted the pitch to behave as it did.”When Gautam came for the press conference after the match and took all the blame on himself — he said we had asked for [that pitch] — he did that because he felt the curators shouldn’t be blamed,” Kotak said. “[…] Every country plays to their strengths. In India that is spin. Ever since I’ve come in, every time, we have the same conversation, that the Test match should go on for four days, four-and-a-half days. All we want is a bit of spin [in the pitch], because spin is our strength.”[…] What happened in the last match, after the first day, you could see that [the pitch] was crumbling, a bit of soil was coming [off the surface]. That wasn’t expected. Even if we had expected that much spin, it was after the third day, or on the evening of the third day. Even the curator didn’t want this. No one wanted what happened.”From the second day, whether the wicket became too dry, or whether — and this is my reading — the top layer became too dry, and the underneath layer was very hard because there was a lot of rolling, and [the pitch behaved as it did] because of this. You can ask the curator, or ask anyone — no one asked for a match that would end in two days, or for square turn.”Well, then.If you read between Gambhir’s lines, Kotak’s lines, all the talk in Kolkata surrounding the lack of watering of the pitch in the days leading up to the Test match, and all the evidence of Test matches in India over recent years, a possible narrative begins to emerge.India want a certain amount of turn on day one to minimise the toss advantage. They ask curators for this. But the visual evidence of the pitch prepared by the curator doesn’t ease their fears of a too-flat surface that renders their spinners ineffective in the first innings should they happen to bowl first.So they begin to meddle, insisting the pitch needs to be drier, to have less grass, to be dry and bare in certain areas… and pretty soon, with India’s anxiety and their lack of belief in (or respect for) an expert’s ability to do his job properly stirred into a pot that initially only contained reasonable intentions, chaos ensues.Given what unfolded in Kolkata, given the result of that Test match, and given the furore that has followed, India may be looking for a certain amount of course-correction in Guwahati.What sort of pitch does that leave us with, then, and what sort of Test match?”The red-soil wicket, generally, if you ask me, will probably have a little more bounce,” Kotak said. “And how much moisture is there, that is important. So that again [depends] on the weather.”In Kolkata also, it was surprising when, actually, the top surface was coming out. No team would ask that we want it to blast [ball causing the soil to explode on impact] on the second day. Anybody would understand that, it is not rocket science. So this wicket probably will play better, I think.”How much seam movement, how much live grass is there at the end of tomorrow evening, before they cover the wicket, and what kind of weather we will have from morning to evening, I also personally don’t know, so it will be very difficult to comment on that, but it should be a good wicket, it should be four-five days of good cricket.”The Kolkata pitch brought both seamers and spinners into play while being excessively helpful to both. Guwahati, if results match stated intentions, could give us one where both seamers and spinners will be in play but will have to work harder for their wickets.Conditions at Barsapara Cricket Stadium at 4.40pm two days before the second Test•Karthik Krishnaswamy/ESPNcricinfoOne other factor could have an effect on the match. On Saturday, Guwahati will become India’s 30th and easternmost Test venue. Play, accordingly, will start at 9am, half an hour earlier than at other Indian venues. This, however, may not necessarily make up for how far east Guwahati is of India’s standard-time meridian. time, or tea-garden time, which governs the working hours in Assam’s tea estates, is a full hour ahead of IST.The early start, then, could mean a little more moisture in the pitch compared to Kolkata (though probably not venues located further west) but it may not make up for how early the sun sets in Guwahati.Piet Botha, South Africa’s bowling coach, suggested that bad light could be a factor. “Probably end of play at 4 o’clock,” he said. “I saw yesterday it was already dark by 4-ish.”Botha felt seamers could get a bit of early help too, drawing a parallel between Guwahati and Durban, which sits on South Africa’s east coast, where Test matches begin an hour earlier than Tests in Cape Town on the opposite coast.”I thought it would be cooler,” he said. “It was quite hot at 9 o’clock. But obviously it will be a little bit more moisture, so I think in terms of the first hour, the new ball should play a role. For how long, we’re not sure.”We’ll have to see. I know back home in Durban, we start at 9 o’clock [typically 9.30am], and sometimes the ball goes around for the first hour, and then it settles down.”To recap: Guwahati will make its Test debut with a red-soil pitch with some grass on it (though we can’t yet be sure how much). There is potential for bounce and carry, and the pitch is not expected to turn alarmingly at least on the first two days. There could be early moisture for the seamers to exploit, and potentially early finishes owing to bad light.All this could help stretch the Test match into day four, if not day five, if nothing unexpected happens. If.