BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AP) — Left-arm wrist spinner Sufiyan Muqeem starred as Zimbabwe were defeated for their lowest Twenty20 total of 57 and Pakistan claimed a crucial 10-wicket victory on Tuesday.

Muqeem, playing in only his seventh T20, surpassed fast bowler Umar Gul’s Pakistani record of five wickets for six runs with an even more impressive 5-3 in 16 balls.

Zimbabwe were bowled out in just 12.4 overs and Pakistan openers Saim Ayub (36 not out) and Omair Bin Yousuf (22 not out) reached 61 without loss in just 5.3 overs.

They have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, with the final game scheduled for Thursday.

Zimbabwe hit a new low after opting to bat, losing 10 wickets for 20 runs after openers Brian Bennett (21) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (16) got them off to a decent start with 37 runs in four overs.

Fast bowler Abbas Afridi dismissed Marumani and uprooted captain Sikandar Raza’s off-stump. When Bennett failed to cope with a sharp, short throw from Haris Rauf and hit the ball from top to bottom, Zimbabwe slipped to 40-3.

Muqeem stunned the middle order with his googlies and leg breaks as he took the wickets of Ryan Burl and Tashinga Musekiwa in his first over and defeated Wellington Maskadza and Richard Ngarava with his turn deals in his second over.

He needed four more balls to beat Zimbabwe as Clive Madanda beat Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha at slip.

Zimbabwe’s previous lowest T20 total was 82 against Sri Lanka in Colombo this year.

Pakistan won the previous ODI series 2-1 but rested all their frontline players, including captain Mohammad Rizwan, who plays the white ball for the T20 series.

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AP Cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket