Harare, July 22 (TNS): Pakistan completed a 5-0 series whitewash over hosts Zimbabwe with a 131-run victory in the fifth and final ODI at Bulawayo on Sunday.
Sarfraz Ahmed‘s men crossed the 350-run mark for the second time in succession after electing to bat first as they set the hosts a mammoth target of 365. That proved to be too much for the Zimbabweans who could only muster 233-4 in their 50 overs.
There were a multitude of records broken by the Fakhar Zaman and Pakistan during his 210-run innings in the fourth ODI and that trend continued on Sunday.
There would be no century for Fakhar this time after he was dismissed for 85 by Liam Roche but not before he had written himself into the record books.
The left-hander’s dismissal came after he had been unbeaten for 515 runs in the series, beating Mohammad Yousuf’s record of 405 runs set in 2002.
It is the first time in ODI history that a batsman has managed to score more than 500 runs in a five-match bilateral series. Only Virat Kohli’s 558 runs (in six matches) against South Africa earlier this year is better overall.
Fakhar also went past the 1,000-run mark in ODIs during the course of his innings and has become the fastest man to the milestone in doing so. The 18 innings taken by him to reach the mark broke the record previously held by the likes of Sir Viv Richards and Babar Azam (21 innings).
The series has been one of the most one-sided affairs in recent times with the severely depleted hosts suffering four crushing losses prior to Sunday. They did manage to put in perhaps their best showing of the series so far in the final ODI but even that wasn’t enough to avert another thumping loss.
The hosts were probably already out of the game once Pakistan put on 364 but they can take comfort from a much- improved batting performance. Skipper Hamilton Masakadza and Tinashe Kamunhukamwe put on a 66-run stand for the first wicket before Ryan Murray and Prince Masvaure added another 78 runs for the third wicket.
Attaining the target of 365 seemed to be the last thing on the mind for the hosts as they instead sought to play out the full 50 overs after their recent batting collapses.
