Pakistan 3-163 (Younis Khan 52, Khurram Manzoor 51, Tinashe Panyangara 1-30) trails Zimbabwe 294 (Hamilton Masakadza 75. Brendan Taylor 51, Junaid Khan 4-67, Abdur Rehman 3-47) by 131 runs

A couple of fifties from the top order batsmen of Pakistan led by Younis Khan brought stability to their batting while chasing a sufficient score of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe smashed 294 after 109.5 overs in their first innings and Pakistan managed 163 for the loss of just three wickets in 68 overs.

The second day’s play came to an end on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, at Harare Sports Club.

Earlier, the hosts went into bat at 8-237 in 90 overs whereas Prosper Utseya and Tendai Chatara were in the center at 14 and 0 runs. They scored 2 runs in the first three overs as Utseya hit the first four in the next one and was gone for 22. The 9^th wicket fell at 248 and the last pair of Chatara and Vitori added 46 runs before the first was declared leg before wicket off Abdur Rehman for 21. Vitori secured his end for 19 as the entire Zimbabwean team was bowled out for 294 in 109.5 overs.

Junaid Khan was the highest wicket taker with four, Abdur Rehman held three, Rahat Ali got two and Saeed Ajmal claimed one wicket.

Khurram Manzoor along with Mohammad Hafeez started off for the visitors and scored 24 runs in 8 overs with 3 fours from the latter. The openers contributed 29 runs when Mohammad Hafeez was caught by Hamilton Masakadza in the slip off Vitori for 22. Azhar Ali came in next, opened his account with two runs on the 11^th ball he faced and Khurram Manzoor hit two back to back fours in the 17^th over. The run rate was slowed down a bit after that and they crawled to 62 in 23.1 overs when Azhar Ali was held lbw off Tinashe Panyangara for just seven runs.

The batsman in form, Younis Khan, joined in next with Khurram Manzoor who kept on consolidating at the other end. The latter was the most aggressive of the two, he dispatched the ball out of the fence regularly and completed his 4^th Test fifty in the 36^th over. The tea break was taken after 37overs when Pakistan had scored 95 after losing two wickets but Khurram Manzoor was run out for 51 off 128 balls with 9 fours in the 39^th one. The Pakistani skipper, Misbah-ul-Haq got in next and the score went past the hundred runs mark two overs later.

The duo kept on enhancing the score with few boundaries and Younis Khan completed 7000 runs in Test cricket with a four on the second ball of the 64^th over. He also attained his 27^th Test half century and was looking confident for a bigger score in the ongoing innings. Younis Khan remained unbeaten for 52 off 127 deliveries with 6 fours, Misbah-ul-Haq was at the other end with 27 from 88 comprising 3 fours as the tourists gathered 163 runs after utilising 68 overs.

The match is still wide open at the close of the second day’s play but Pakistan looks in more comfortable position as compared to Zimbabwe.