Another record-breaking day for Fakhar Zaman and other takeaways as Pakistan whitewash Zimbabwe

ANOTHER RECORD-BREAKING DAY FOR FAKHAR ZAMAN

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).

IMAM-UL-HAQ REGISTERS THIRD TON OF THE SERIES

While Fakhar’s batting exploits have been the talk of the series and rightly so, it is easy to forget that his opening partner has had a stellar time as well.

The 22-year-old carried on from where he left off in the fourth ODI as he once again took on the role of the initial aggressor. Ul-Haq has made a knack of converting his half-centuries into hundreds in his short career so far and he lived up to that reputation as he brought up his fourth ODI century and second in succession in just 97 balls.

It was Imam’s third ton of the series and fourth overall in just nine ODI innings. He is now the first batsman in history to bring up four centuries in his first 10 matches. The youngster has now managed to convert all his half-centuries into tons.

The 600-run plus opening partnerships that Imam and Fakhar have put together over the course of the series is also a new record for ODI cricket.

BABAR AZAM COMES TO THE PARTY

Babar Azam had not really had an opportunity to put on a big score in the series prior to Sunday. The right-hander has only recently returned from an injury layoff but he was back to his fluent best as he notched up his eighth ODI ton in just 72 balls.

The 23-year-old made the utmost of the perfect platform laid out for him by Imam and Fakhar in an innings of two halves.

In the first half of his innings, Babar kept the runs ticking as he brought up his half-century off 55 deliveries. He then quickly changed gears in the death overs as his next 50 runs came off just 17 deliveries. It was a perfectly constructed innings and ensured that Pakistan crossed the 350-run mark for the second time in succession.

ZIMBABWE SHOW FIGHT BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH

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.