Left-arm spinner Imad Wasim took four wickets to spin Pakistan to a 13-run victory over Zimbabwe in the first of two Twenty20 Internationals at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.
South Africa survived a batting collapse precipitated by a hat-trick from spinner Prosper Utseya to beat Zimbabwe by 61 runs in the third match of the triangular series on Friday.
Zimbabwe also maintained their unbeaten run in Group B and progressed to the next stage with an 89 runs victory over Hong Kong.
Niroshan Dickwella and Asela Gunaratne hit crucial half centuries to guide Sri Lanka to their highest-ever run chase as the hosts defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets on the final day of an intriguing one-off Test on Tuesday.
India again proved too strong for Zimbabwe, winning the second One-Day International by eight wickets in Harare, on Monday. After dismissing the hosts in 34.3 overs for a paltry 126, the tourists chased down the modest target in 26.5 overs and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, having won the opening ODI by nine wickets on Saturday.
Images from the Premier League matches played on Saturday.
England batsman Joe Root and Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath have moved up to second positions in their respective ICC Test player rankings but failed to displace top-ranked batsman Steve Smith and bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.
It will be a different sort of challenge for Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he captains a new-look Indian cricket team against Zimbabwe in the first ODI of a short series starting in Harare on Saturday.
Captain Elton Chigumbura hit a fluent half-century as Zimbabwe secured a shock three-wicket win over Australia in the triangular series on Sunday.
Zimbabwe recorded their first win over Pakistan for 15 years as they cruised to a seven-wicket victory in the opening one-day international at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.
Suresh Raina (110) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (85) combined in an unbeaten fifth wicket partnership of 196 at Eden Park to give their team a sixth successive victory in the tournament.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra notched up a career-best haul (6-48) as India ended their Zimbabwe tour with another convincing victory, in the fifth and final One-Day International in Bulawayo on Saturday, thereby completing a 5-0 series sweep.
Afghanistan roared into the main draw of the World Twenty20 with an emphatic 59-run victory over Zimbabwe in a first round Group B match on Saturday. Mohammad Shahzad (40) gave Afghanistan a flying start before Mohammad Nabi (52) and Samiullah Shenwari (43) added 98 runs off 64 balls to power them to 186-6, their highest total in this format. The associate nation then returned to bowl out Zimbabwe for 127 to register a memorable victory over a full-member nation and join England, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka in Group One of the Super 10 stage of the tournament. "This was a very important match for us. People in Afghanistan are crazy about cricket. They love the game, so (winning it) was very important for us," victorious captain Asghar Stanikzai said. With a place in the main draw at stake, Stanikzai opted to bat and was vindicated as Shahzad set alight Nagpur's VCA Stadium with his swashbuckling batting. The portly 28-year-old hit Tendai Chatara for four successive boundaries after a quiet opening over, forcing the pacer off attack. Donald Tiripano was pressed into service but there was no respite from Shahzad who hit him for three successive fours. Shahzad greeted left-arm spinner Sean Williams by hitting his first delivery for a six but fell in the same over after a 23-ball blitz attempting a reverse sweep.
India maintained their stranglehold over Zimbabwe, winning the fourth ODI in the five-match series by nine wickets, in Bulawayo, on Thursday. Opting to field after winning the toss, India dismissed the hosts for a paltry 144, and then chased down the target with 115 balls to spare at the Queens Sports Club.
Dane Piedt produced the best performance by a debutant South African spinner as the Proteas thumped Zimbabwe by nine wickets to retain their number one status following the one-off conTest at the Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.
'My dream was to see them qualify for the T20 World Cup in Australia. This is like icing on the cake'
Top Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a straight-game loss to seventh seeded English pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 17-21, 14-21 in a last-8 match.
hree run outs cost Zimbabwe dear as they slumped to a 108-run loss and a 2-1 series defeat to Pakistan in the third one-day international at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
An unbeaten 136 from Mohammad Hafeez laid the platform for Pakistan as they beat Zimbabwe by 90 runs in the second one-day international in Harare on Thursday.
A promising start to their World Cup campaign will raise hopes of a quarter-final berth.
Chris Gayle rediscovered his mojo in spectacular fashion on Tuesday with the first ever World Cup double century to drive West Indies to a 73-run victory over Zimbabwe in their Pool B clash at Manuka Oval.
Shikhar Dhawan capitalised on three reprieves to slam his third ODI century as India crushed Zimbabwe by 58 runs in the second One-dayer in Harare on Friday.
Under-fire Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has been priced odds-on to be the first Premier League manager to leave his job this season.
Former Ferrari technical director and world championship-winning team principal Ross Brawn stepped back into the Formula One arena on Monday in the new role of managing director for motorsport.
While Australia scored a six-wicket win over the West Indies, Sri Lanka beat Scotland by 40 runs in two Group D matches.
It was India's players all the way, with Jasprit Bumrah emerging the most valuable, ahead of K L Rahul. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index after the just-concluded three-ODI series between India and Zimbabwe.
The series loss to South Africa notwithstanding, India held on to their second spot in the team list, while star batsman Virat Kohli rose up a rung to second in the batsmen's table of the latest ICC ODI cricket rankings.
Venus Williams avoided another early exit with a routine win over fellow American Alison Riske at the Volvo Car Open in South Carolina while Swiss second seed Belinda Bencic was ousted by Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina.
IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Saturday
The FIFA 2022 World Cup will kick-off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20. Here is a list of the 26-man squads playing in the quadrennial global football extravaganza.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji figure out who are the most valuable players after the league phase of the World Cup intheir latest update.
Pakistan look to get their so far lacklustre World Cup campaign going with a win over Zimbabwe.
A resounding opening win setting the tone perfectly for them, the new-look Indian team will look to continue in the same vein and take another step towards a potential whitewash of Zimbabwe when the two sides clash in the second ODI in Harare on Monday.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 228, which was possible thanks to Pakistan-born batsman Sikandar Raza, who top-scored with a patient 82, and Elton Chigumbura's 34-ball 43, the World champions had things their way while winning with 31 balls to spare at the Harare Sports Club.
Top seed Serena Williams turned an early challenge into an eventual cakewalk as she beat Russian-born Yulia Putintseva 7-6(2), 6-0 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in California on Sunday.
Naomi Osaka is also the first woman to win a second Slam immediately after her first since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 but her meteoric rise has been followed by a distinct dip ahead of Roland Garros.
Having already clinched the series, India would look to hand Zimbabwe a third successive whitewash while testing more youngsters when they take on the lacklustre hosts in the third and final One-day International in Harare, on Wednesday.
India beat Zimbabwe by seven wickets to take an assailable 3-0 lead in the five match ODI series at Harare Sports Club ground on Sunday.
South Africa's AB de Villiers and Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara will take their battle for the coveted No 1 spot in the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen to Sydney when they go head-to-head in the first quarter-final of the World Cup.