Watch: Crowd footage of Zimbabwe's stunning last-ball heist against Pakistan

After having been banned from participating in last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, Zimbabwe have continued to make a stellar rise at the ongoing edition, registering a thrilling one-run win over Pakistan in a crucial Super 12s clash in Perth on Thursday.

Defending a paltry 130/8, Zimbabwe bowlers put on a stellar show, led by all-rounder Sikandar Raza’s game-changing 3/25. It was seamer Brad Evans however, who pulled off a heroic last over, defending three off the final four balls despite conceding a three and a boundary off the first two.

With four needed of four, Evans conceded a single to Mohammad Wasim Jr, and followed that with a dot and the wicket of Mohammad Nawaz, leaving Shaheen Afridi to get three off the final ball. Afridi mistimed a length ball downtown, and Raza sprinted forward from long-on to fire an accurate throw at the keeper’s end to have the batter short, and seal an emphatic result.

A crowd footage of the final ball of the match captures the range of emotions in the stands, and has been doing the rounds on social media.

Watch: Crowd footage of Zimbabwe's stunning heist off last ball against Pakistan

Winning moment of Zimbabwe. pic.twitter.com/X0gCsKZjnE

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 27, 2022

Pakistan lost openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan early in their innings for a second straight time, and the wicket of Iftikhar Ahmed in the eighth over reduced them to 36/3. Shan Masood (44 off 38) held his end strong, as was supported by Shadab Khan in 52-run fourth wicket stand, before the latter and Haider Ali were dismissed by Raza off successive balls in the 14th over to tilt the balance.

Earlier, Sean Williams (31 off 28) was the lone batter to cross 20 for Zimbabwe, who were limited to 130/8 courtesy of Wasim Jr’s career-best 4/24 and Shadab’s 3/23.

It was Pakistan's second-straight defeat off the final ball in the competition, after they suffered a four-wicket defeat to arch-rivals India in their tournament opener in Melbourne on Sunday. The 2009 champions are now precariously placed in the race to the semi-finals.

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