Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe, 3rd ODI, 2015: Highlights, Scorecard and Recap

Pakistan's third and final ODI against Zimbabwe was rained off in Lahore on Sunday, the hosts having already wrapped up the series with victories in the first two contests.

The visitors were set 297 for victory as they looked to avoid a whitewash, and they started the chase in decent fashion.

However, their efforts proved to be in vain, as first a floodlight failure and then a dust storm and heavy rain saw the match called as a no-result, as confirmed by the ICC:

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. The opening pair of Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali gave the hosts a terrific base, as they put on 115 together before the latter was run out for 46 in the 20th over.

Hafeez scored an entertaining run-a-ball 80 before being trapped lbw by the spin of Sikandar Raza, who then went on to remove Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed relatively cheaply.

Total		296	(50 Overs, 9 Wickets)
Batsman	Dismissal	Runs	B	4s	6s	SR
Mohammad Hafeez	lbw b S Raza	80	80	8	1	100.0
Azhar Ali (c)	run out (S Raza)	46	59	4	1	78.0
Asad Shafiq	c Sean Williams b S Raza	16	25	1	0	64.0
Babar Azam	b Mpofu	54	60	4	0	90.0
Shoaib Malik	run out (Mpofu/Mutumbami)	3	7	0	0	42.9
Sarfraz Ahmed (wk)	c Sean Williams b S Raza	25	23	3	0	108.7
Hammad Azam	b Cremer	4	12	0	0	33.3
Anwar Ali	not out	38	23	2	2	165.2
Wahab Riaz	c Mutumbami b Mpofu	13	10	1	1	130.0
Yasir Shah	run out (S Raza/Panyangara)	0	0	0	0	0.0
Junaid Khan	not out	5	2	1	0	250.0
Extras		12	(b - 0 w - 7, nb - 1, lb - 4)			12
Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd
Chris Mpofu	6	0	50	2	0	1
Tinashe Panyangara	8	0	47	0	1	0
Chamu Chibhabha	4	0	23	0	0	1
Graeme Cremer	10	0	56	1	0	0
Hamilton Masakadza	2	0	15	0	0	0
Sean Williams	10	0	42	0	0	1
Sikandar Raza	10	0	59	3	0	4

Another run out saw for Shoaib Malik for three, constituting something of a middle-order collapse that saw Pakistan 211 for six in the 41st over.

However, an impressively controlled half-century from debutant Babar Azam proved vital before he was bowled by Chris Mpofu.

Anwar Ali smashed an undefeated 23-ball 38 at the end of the innings, hugely valuable runs, as noted by former Pakistan cricketer and commentator Ramiz Raja:

"

Pakistan end their innings on 296-9 in 50 overs. Anwar Ali played a decent hand with 38 runs down the order #PakvsZim

— Ramiz Raja (@RealRamizRaja) May 31, 2015"

Zimbabwe were left with a tricky target of 297 to chase down in their innings as they looked to avoid a whitewash in the three-match series.

Total		68	(9 Overs, 0 Wickets)
Batsman	Dismissal	Runs	B	4s	6s	SR
Vusi Sibanda	not out	28	27	3	0	103.7
Chamu Chibhabha	not out	39	27	4	0	144.4
Extras		1	(b - 0 w - 0, nb - 0, lb - 1)
Bowler	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd
Junaid Khan	3	0	23	0	0	0
Anwar Ali	2	0	21	0	0	0
Wahab Riaz	2	0	13	0	0	0
Mohammad Hafeez	2	0	10	0	0	0

Chamu Chibhabha and Vusi Sibanda put on 68 together in nine overs before the weather closed in and the lights went out.

Not only were there floodlight problems, but rain and dust caused play to be suspended and the match reduced to 46 overs, per Cricbuzz:

As the rain continued to pour down, the time ticked on past the cut-off point where a 20-over match would have still been viable, and the match was abandoned.

It's a shame for the Zimbabweans, as they had started their run chase in positive fashion.