Zimbabwe v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Harare, Highlights The milestone The celebration

Zimbabwe v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Harare, 2nd day

Vitori's handstand and the run-out verdict

Plays of the day for the second day of the second Test in Harare

The celebration

It's not often a batting team celebrates being bowled out, but when Tendai Chatara and Brian Vitori left the field, they did. Zimbabwe had managed 294, a total which seemed unlikely when they finished day one on 237 for 8. The last pair put on 46 runs on a tricky surface so even when Chatara was judged lbw to Abdur Rehman, there was reason to be cheerful. As the two bowlers hurried off, they high-fived each other on a job well done and wore satisfied grins, no doubt because of their effort with the bat.

The warm-up

Vitori had spent enough time on the park to consider himself warmed up and he did not take part in as many of the pre-fielding activities as the rest. He did, however, ensure he completed what must be a personal ritual for getting ready to bowl. After taking his position at fine leg and looking around to make sure as few people as possible were watching, Vitori proceeded to complete a perfect handstand. With hands firmly on the ground, he extended his legs in the air and stayed in the position for a couple of seconds before resuming an upright position.

The decision

The third umpire has not been needed much in this match but when he was called on, he had a tricky decision to make. Khurram Manzoor became another victim of Younis Khan's uncertain running when he was sent back after thinking of a sneaky single and was found short of his crease when Richmond Mutumbami broke the stumps. The only question was whether the wicketkeeper had done so legally with ball in hand, for there was some doubt if he had accidentally knocked the bails with his body first. Several replays later, Owen Chirombe was confident enough to send Manzoor on his way.

The pose

Vitori was convinced he had taken a second wicket when Manzoor shouldered arms late to a delivery that went down the leg side. He and wicketkeeper Mutumbami both went up, convinced Manzoor had edged but the batsman had the more persuasive body language. Manzoor remained standing, still as a statue arms in the air, bat aloft as if to indicate he had only been leaving the ball. Steve Davis agreed.

The milestone

It did not come through with any elegance but Younis Khan probably would not have minded. An edge, produced by Vitori, snuck through the gap between the slips and gully and scuttled to the boundary. It brought up two important milestones for Younis - his fifty and 7,000 runs in Test cricket.

And when Pakistan landed in Zimbabwe, the expectations were high for Pak. As luck would have it, they lost the first ODI and bounced back immediately and won the series. Zimbabwe team always use to bring in surpises like they did in WC 1983 when they beat Aussies and beat Pakistanis in their own backyard in Peshawar and they even defeated in Pakistan by an Innings ( and of course Pak immediately handed them an Innnings defeat) and Pak is the only team to suffer so in Tests. But the ongoing season doesn't seem to bring in any surprise by Zimbabwe team. This may be due to their not playing top test teams regularly and playing matches only against minnows like Bangladesh, West indies. As has been rightly pointed by this writer Firdose to give chance to Zimbabwe team by ICC and other Boards. The worry for the Cricket Boards may be more of their commercial interests rather than cricketing reasons. Hope better sense will prevail upon the Administrators to include Zim in FTP.