Darwish Rasooli made his first international fifty, while Naveen-ul-Haq and Rashid Khan each took three wickets as Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by 50 runs on Friday to level their T20 series with one match remaining. Darwish Rasooli was named Played of the Match for his exceptional innings.
Darwish Rasooli’s maiden international half-century propelled Afghanistan to 153 for 6 before their bowlers delivered to help Afghanistan comfortably win the second T20I against Zimbabwe and draw level in the series with one to play. Darwish Rasooli’s maiden fifty in international cricket was followed by a clinical bowling effort that saw Afghanistan level the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe were bowled out for just 103 in pursuit of 154 with Naveen-ul-Haq and Rashid Khan picking three wickets apiece.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report: Same pitch that was used in the last game. Today it’s very warm as it was on the other day. The cracks have slightly widened so that’s an evidence that the pitch has dried up. There’s grass on the surface but it’s well rolled in. Getting a score in excess of 150 will be competitive. You still want to bat first on this surface, reckons Tino Mawayo.
Toss : Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and chose to bat with three changes in the playing XI. Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza bowling first made no changes in the playing XI from the winning squad in the first match.
Darwish Rasooli’s maiden International 50 powers Afghanistan to 153 for 6 in 20 overs
Having lost the opening game, Afghanistan made a positive start to this encounter by racing to 18 in just the first two overs. However, things changed in a matter of nine deliveries as Rahmanullah Gurbaz first mistimed one to get caught before Zubaid Akbari got run out as a result of a direct hit. To make matters worse, Sediqullah Atal departed as well to leave Afghanistan reeling at 33/3 after five overs.
Afghanistan’s top order failed to fire for the second game in a row; they lost three wickets in the space of nine balls to finish the powerplay on 41 for 3 – a minor improvement on their 34 for 4 in the first T20I. Rahmanullah Gurbaz got going with a boundary punched through square in the first over, while Sediqullah Atal hit Blessing Muzarabani for two fours through the off side in the second.
But Trevor Gwandu made an instant impact, striking with his first ball, Gurbaz spooning a catch to mid-off. Two balls later Zubaid Akbari was run out trying to pinch a single to backward point that was never there
Atal tried to keep Afghanistan’s momentum going, pulling Muzarabani in front of square for his third boundary off the seamer, but Muzarabani had the last laugh as he had Atal caught at cover point next ball.
Afghanistan could have lost a fourth wicket in the powerplay thanks to another mix-up, but Azmatullah Omarzai survived. Darwish Rasooli got going with a pickup shot behind square off Gwandu, and then lofted Wellington Masakadza over extra cover in the first over without fielding restrictions.
Darwish Rasooli then joined forces with Azmatullah Omarzai to steady the ship and the duo did prosper. Darwish Rasooli picked up a couple of boundaries to get going and after a watchful start, Omarzai picked Sikandar Raza and Wellington Masakadza for a six each. Against the run of play, Zimbabwe struck again with Omarzai perishing in his attempt to hit one against the spin. Ryan Burl had a field day as he also managed to get rid of Mohammad Nabi leaving Darwish Rasooli to handle the scoring at the death.
Omarzai, who took some time to settle, pulled a Sikandar Raza half-tracker over midwicket for the first six of the match in the tenth over. He followed that up with another six down the ground in the next over but holed out trying to hit Ryan Burl in the same areas. Brian Bennett took an excellent catch running across to his left from long-on, catching it high and throwing it up before taking one step outside the boundary rope and coming back in to complete the catch.
In his next over, Burl dropped one short and Nabi miscued a pull to deep midwicket’s left and Wessly Madhevere held on to a screamer at full stretch. Now Afghanistan had half their side back in the hut.
Darwish Rasooli slapped Gwandu over mid-off in the next over before going downtown again when Burl almost pulled off yet another fantastic parried-grab on the boundary, but replays showed he had made contact with the ground outside the boundary rope at the wrong moment. Naib then edged a four off Raza, as Afghanistan collected 22 runs from the two overs after Nabi’s wicket.
The best was yet to come. In the penultimate over, Darwish Rasooli hit Ngarava for three fours on the trot, bringing up his maiden T20I fifty in the process. That was 17 for the over, and Afghanistan were in sight of 150. Gwandu got him in the final over and conceded just the six runs though, to keep Zimbabwe’s target down to 154.
3-fers by Naveen Ul Haq and Rashid Khan secures 50 runs win for Afghanistan to level series 1-1
Chasing 154, Zimbabwe would have fancied their chances of picking up a rare series victory. However, Naveen and Omarzai struck once each in the powerplay as the hosts watchfully made 40/2 in the first six overs.
Zimbabwe started to build momentum from the second over of their chase, with both openers hitting Mujeeb for a four each before Bennett dispatched Naveen over deep midwicket for six.
But soon enough Naveen spotted Tadiwanshe Marumani coming down the track and pulled his length back and the batter ended up slashing it to deep backward point. Omarzai struck with another short ball, having Dion Myers caught at deep backward square.
Once the spinners bowled in tandem, Zimbabwe found themselves in deep trouble. Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman came back into the attack and first dismissed Madhevere before castling Brian Bennett. At 55/4 by the halfway mark, Zimbabwe’s hopes once again rested on the shoulders of Raza.
Mujeeb came back in the attack immediately after the powerplay and had Madhevere hitting a drive straight to short cover. In his next over, he bamboozled Bennett as he got one to turn past his outside edge and just clip the off bail. Rashid then joined in the fun when he trapped Burl in front trying to sweep and at 57 for 5, Zimbabwe were on the ropes.
Tashinga Musekiwa, who hit the winning runs off the final ball of the first T20I, took Mujeeb on in his final over, driving him through extra cover and launching him over long-on off consecutive deliveries. But Musekiwa’s counterattack was short-lived; Naveen rushed him with pace in the next over and he miscued a simple catch to cover. Rashid then struck twice in an over and the game was all but done.
Naveen had Raza caught at deep midwicket in the 17th, and Fareed Malik finished things off castling Muzarabani next over. Even though the veteran did hang in for a fight, the rest of the side crumbled at the other end. Rashid opened his account by sending Burl back to the pavilion and any slight hope that was given by Tashinga Musekiwa quickly went up in smoke as Naveen returned to eliminate that threat. Rashid and Naveen then completed the job to give the visitors a facile win.
Zimbabwe won a last-ball thriller to post their first T20I victory over Afghanistan on Wednesday, but the visitors ensured there was no drama this time around, routing the home side by 50 runs with 14 balls to spare. Darwish Rasooli found support from Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib to prop up Afghanistan. Naveen-ul-Haq and Rashid Khan then picked up three wickets each, while Mujeeb Ur Rahman dealt a crucial double-blow in the middle overs.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Rashid Khan the winning Afghanistan skipper said : The area we still struggled a bit was the top-order, the way Darwish came and played was really impressive. That’s a position we have struggled. Compared to today, in the last game we gave away a lot of runs. It’s a big ground to one side and we have to adjust quickly, not many sixes were hit today and that day as well, it’s how you play down the ground and play proper cricketing shots.
It’s not impossible to score more runs at the end and it’s crucial to adapt to the conditions. Later on it gets easier to score. [on Rasooli] We are always searching for someone who bats at number 4, the target is the next World Cup and the preparations for that starts from now.
He has done well in the Emerging tournament and he was delivering the best in that number four position there. The way he was looking in the nets was very impressive and quite happy for him and looking forward to seeing him score runs for Afghanistan.
Sikandar Raza the loosing Zimbabwe skipper said : Certainly the batting seems to be the Achilles heel. Still struggling to score a total, but still believe we have got the quality in the changeroom and we can get the job done tomorrow. But painful to see the same mistakes being made. Against Pakistan everywhere was a problem, having said that the openers have found a bit of a form. Bennett, Marumani and even Myers have looked good.
Not far when these three can win a game on their own. Was not a bad start, but after the powerplay we failed to capitalize. In a T20 game there is bound to be an over which goes for 15+, I felt our bowling and fielding unit was fantastic.
It was skidding on well and was a better wicket than the other day and that’s why it hurts not to get over the line. These guys are the semi-finalists of the T20 World Cup, to beat them you can’t have one department firing and these guys will make it difficult. We have to dig deep and find enough courage and we will have to perform in all three departments to beat them tomorrow.
Darwish Rasooli gets Player of the Match award for his maiden international T20I 50. He is not called for an interview though.
Afghanistan level the series 1-1. Sets up the decider nicely now. Not a big score to defend but the bowlers came to the party today. Naveen again got Marumani early and that set the tone. Just two contributions for Zimbabwe and that came from Bennett and Raza. The latter’s wicket sealed things as he was their last hope.
All the five bowlers who bowled were among the wickets with Naveen and Rashid sharing 6 wickets between themselves. The wicket was two-paced and the Zimbabwean batters failed to rotate the strike effectively, they went for the big hits and found the fielders in the deep. A total team performance from Afghanistan who have bounced back after that opening game defeat .The series is now at 1-1. The decider is tomorrow (14th) at the same ground.