Harare: Younis Khan's unbeaten double century led Pakistan to 419-9 declared in its second innings on day four of the first test against Zimbabwe on Friday, leaving the hosts a hefty 328 runs behind by stumps and needing to bat for three sessions to save the series-opener at Harare Sports Club.
Zimbabwe was 13-1 with the early loss of Tino Mawoyo, and Pakistan needs nine wickets on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in the two-game series. Zimbabwe has to make an unlikely 342 to win.
Younis made it to exactly 200 not out with a six and captain Misbah-ul-Haq immediately declared Pakistan's second innings late in the final session, leaving Zimbabwe way behind and completely turning around the test after the tourists had trailed by 78 runs after the first innings. Mawoyo then fell lbw to Saeed Ajmal (1-1) for the spinner's eighth wicket of the match as Zimbabwe lost one of its openers in the 7.3 overs it had to face at the end of the penultimate day.
Lowly-ranked Zimbabwe had started the first of two tests strongly despite the tour being constantly dogged by a player wage dispute and the financial crisis within national body Zimbabwe Cricket, which also has relocated the second test from the south western city of Bulawayo to Harare to save costs.
But by the end of Friday, the home team was facing another uphill battle.
It was mainly down to Younis, who hit 15 fours and three late sixes in his game-changing double hundred, and shared century partnerships with Misbah on Thursday and wicketkeeper-batsman Adnan Akmal (64) earlier Friday to lift Pakistan out of trouble and into a winning position. Younis faced 404 balls and took Pakistan from 23-3 early in its second innings.
Younis forged to his 22nd test hundred in the first session despite the loss of overnight partner Asad Shafiq in the first over of the day. Akmal backed Younis up with a half-century in a 118-run partnership for the sixth wicket before Akmal was run out by a combination of three Zimbabwean fielders. No. 11 Rahat Ali then contributed 35 not out in an unbeaten last-wicket partnership of 88 that probably took the game out of Zimbabwe's reach.
Offspinner Prosper Utseya took three late wickets for his 3-137 for Zimbabwe and seamers Tinashe Panyangara and Tendai Chatara had two wickets each but Zimbabwe's bowlers were nowhere near as effective as they had been when they bowled Pakistan out for 249 in the first innings.
Zimbabwe's last-day battle will also be made tougher by the absence of middle-order batsman Sean Williams, who declined to play in the first test because of the non-payment of wages by the struggling board. The other Zimbabwe players agreed to give Zimbabwe Cricket more time to catch up with their wages having threatened to go on strike twice during the tour.
They are expected to finally be paid before the second test starting next Tuesday, but need to focus on saving the opening match before then.
