Pakistan restricted to 235/7 by Zimbabwe

Pakistan's batting let the side down yet again as minnows Zimbabwe restricted the former champions to 235 for seven in their pool B ODI cricket match of the ICC World Cup here today.

Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq top-scored with a slow-paced 73 off 121 balls before Wahab Riaz's quickfire unbeaten 54, which came off 46 deliveries, added some zing to a lacklustre performance.

Pakistan, yet to register a win in the tournament, put together yet another shambolic batting performance after electing to bat on winning the toss.

The openers -- Nasir Jamshed (1) and Ahmed Shehzad (0) -- were back in the pavillion within the first five overs with just four runs on the board.

Misbah, who has been criticised for scoring at a slow rate, steadied the ship with a couple of decent partnerships. He first shared a 54-run stand with Harris Sohail (27 off 44 balls) before stitching together 69 runs in the company of Umar Akmal (33 off 42 balls).

But the pace of scoring was such that Pakistan could not even capitalise on the fielding blunders that the Zimbabweans committed.

The proceedings became a tad exciting courtesy Riaz, who smashed half a dozen fours and a six during the course of his entertaining knock.

For Zimbabwe, paceman Tandai Chatara stood out with a three-wicket haul, which cost only 35 runs, off his 10 overs -- two of them maiden.

Left-arm spinner Sean Williams picked up two wickets, conceding 48 runs in his 10 overs, one of which was a maiden. In all, five of the 50 overs bowled were maiden.