Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by five runs in a tightly contested first one-day international at Queens Sports Club on Thursday.

Zimbabwe's batsmen failed to negotiate a tight spell of bowling by Pakistan as they reached 242-7 chasing a target of 248 to win. Aizaz Cheema took 3-36, including two wickets near the end of the Zimbabwe innings, with spinner Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan also tightening the screws on the batsmen.

Junaid bowled the last over, from which Zimbabwe required 12 runs to win. Earlier, Younis Khan (78) and Misbah-ul-Haq (54) hit half-centuries to lay the foundation for Pakistan's 247-7.