Pakistan's Babar Azam plays a shot during the second one day international cricket match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo)Mystery spinner Usman Tariq claimed a hat-trick as Pakistan barged into the T20 tri-series final with a 69-run victory over Zimbabwe on Sunday. Tariq worked his magic in the 10th over, reducing Zimbabwe from 60-4 to 60-7 in the span of three deliveries at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Tariq had Tony Munyonga caught at short fine leg to start his rout. Then on the next ball he clean bowled Tashinga Musekiwa before Babar Azam leapt on a catch at mid-off to send back Wellington Masakadza and give off-spinner Tariq his hat trick. For good measure, he also claimed the wicket of Tinotenda Maposa, bowling the player with a googly.
Tariq thus became the fourth Pakistan bowler to take a T20 hat trick after Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Hasnain and Mohammad Nawaz. What was remarkable was that he was playing in only his second T20 since making his debut against South Africa earlier this month.
“There’s a big process behind my (bowling) action,” Tariq said. “I need to take care of pace and spin variations. I wasn’t expecting a big shot on the hat-trick ball, thanks to the batter.”
Speaking about their troubles against spin bowling, Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza who claimed two wickets on the night, said: “I thought apart from the last over, it was a typical Pindi wicket. If you’re not ahead of the game, teams will find you out … the manner we’ve played spin we can’t carry on like that. We’ll help each other out and find our feet.”
Meanwhile, there was a half century for Pakistan star Babar Azam, who was their top scorer on the day when they batted first. Babar Azam scored 74 and had help from Sahibzada Farhan (63) as Pakistan posted 195-5 in their quota of 20 overs. Fakhar Zaman had chipped in with a rapid 27 not out off 10 balls in a late flurry for Pakistan.
(With inputs from the Associated Press)
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