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Sunday 10 January 2016

Afghanistan 2-0 Zimbabwe T20 Series January 2016

1st T20

Afghanistan 187/7 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe 182/7 (20/20 ov)
Afghanistan won by 5 runs

It was a clash where both sides were far from their best on the field. While that didn't translate into a high standard of cricket, it made for an entertaining clash nonetheless. The end result was a last-ball finish, with two metres and a fine low catch by Gulbadin Naib separating both sides as Afghanistan held their nerve to outclass Zimbabwe by five runs in the first T20I in Sharjah.

But the catch wasn't Naib's only contribution in the match. His cameo of 37 in a 52-run stand for the fifth wicket with Mohammad Nabi gave Afghanistan the impetus they needed after a middle order slump orchestrated by Graeme Cremer, who picked up three wickets. Afghanistan blasted 66 off the last five overs to finish with 187 for 7. It nearly didn't prove enough.

With 60 needed off the last five overs, Zimbabwe were in with a slim chance. Malcolm Waller swung his way to more runs in this innings alone than he had done in the preceding ODI series, while Elton Chigumbura found his hitting range to bring it down to 21 off the last over. Asghar Stanikzai's decision to keep his premier pacer Dawlat Zadran worked, but by only just. His end figures of 3 for 32 were far more flattering in the overall context, but the scorecard wouldn't reveal how he nearly finished second-best on the night.

Two high full tosses that were called no-ball should have taken him off the attack, but the frenetic passage of play was such that the possibility was perhaps lost on the umpires. What followed was total pandemonium. With 16 needed off four, Luke Jongwe muscled a six and a four to bring it down to six off two. Then came a close call, with Dawlat flirting with the wide line.

With six needed off the final ball, Jongwe carved one over the infield only for Naib to, quite fittingly, take the catch at the deep-cover boundary to end the heart-stopping thriller. In the end, Zimbabwe were left wondering what could have been had they held their chances that would have ensured they didn't have to chase these many.

Mohammad Shahzad was dropped off the third ball to deny debutant Donald Tiripano a wicket when Chamu Chibhabha put down a powerful whip at deep midwicket. Shortly after, Masakadza was caught in a brain freeze as his decision to run towards the stumps instead of lobbing a throw to the wicketkeeper resulted in Usman Ghani a reprieve. The result of the two misses cost Zimbabwe 33 and 42 respectively, which set them a solid base for a blaze at the end.

But Cremer wasn't giving up. The classical legspinner used his height and clever use of angles to generate bounce and beat the batsmen with his dip. The end result was magical figures of 4-0-17-3 that briefly caused a few flutters in the Afghanistan camp as they slipped from 62 without loss to 105 for 4. But Tendai Chisoro, the left-arm spinner, and Raza, the part-time offspinner, failed to create the same impact Cremer had.

While Chisoro kept firing them in, only for Nabi and Naib to get underneath the ball and hit them cleanly, Raza fed them with long hops that were dispatched. When their partnership, that gave the innings a power-boost ended with Chisoro sending back Nabi, the mood in the Zimbabwe camp spelt relief.

There wasn't an iota of doubt that this would be a difficult chase. The loss of two early wickets, both to Dawlat, gave Afghanistan an early advantage. But Hamilton Masakadza and Richmond Mutumbami then came out swinging as Afghanistan's bowlers repeatedly missed their lengths. The result was Zimbabwe wiping out 95 runs in 11 overs.

But the pressure of the asking rate and some tight bowling by the spinners following Masakadza's downfall to a reverse sweep for 33 allowed Afghanistan a foot in the door. Sikandar Raza and Waller then continued to keep the fight going. Aiding them along the way was some heavy dew and some poor death bowling as Zimbabwe managed to find the boundaries with regularity.


Waller cashed in on Rashid Khan's inexperience by targeting the short midwicket boundaries. Yet there was a lingering feeling that Zimbabwe were just a wicket away from being squeezed out of the contest. But they did well to hang in till the very end courtesy Jongwe's two blows that could have been decisive, but Afghanistan did remarkably well to hold their own under pressure to eke out a win that could have a galvanising effect on them.


2nd T20

Afghanistan 215/6 (20/20 ov)
Zimbabwe 134 (18.1/20 ov)

Afghanistan won by 81 runs


Mohammad Shahzad displayed trademark brute force and incredulous timing in his record-breaking ton to lead Afghanistan to a comfortable 81-run win against Zimbabwe in the second T20I in Sharjah. The victory secured Afghanistan's second 2-0 series win against Zimbabwe in under three months. Shahzad clobbered and pummeled his way to a 67-ball 118, which became the highest individual score from an Associate nation in T20Is and fourth overall. By the time he was done, Zimbabwe were not only deflated but had also conceded a mammoth 215.

Shahzad got stuck into the medium-pacers as well as the spinners after a slow start. That the next highest contribution after Shahzad's blitzkrieg was Mohammad Nabi's brisk 22, was symbolic of the ascendancy he possessed over Zimbabwe's helpless bowling attack. With each hit, he demonstrated a different form of domination that left the congregated Sharjah crowd gasping for more. Shahzad picked the midwicket area and peppered it regularly with brutish pulls and slog-sweeps. Within 14 overs, he reached his century and had virtually batted Zimbabwe out of the series.

The Afghanistan innings began in amateurish fashion - a lot of shots yielding not many runs. Both Shahzad and Usman Ghani looked to hit the cover off the ball, and thereby lost their shape and failed to find any timing. The first five overs produced 30.

However, spin was soon introduced as the field spread after the Powerplay but Shahzad stuck to his own technique. It hardly mattered whether Shahzad danced down the pitch, went deep in the crease or got down on one knee after a premediated shuffle across. Afghanistan had 59, and Shahzad had 50 of those. He connected with most of his sweeps and swipes, and his muscular domination did the rest as sixes were launched over the boundary with enviable ease.

Zimbabwe's bowlers hardly helped themselves by repeatedly landing deliveries in Shahzad's hitting arc. Under duress, yorkers were attempted but were dispatched after ending up as low full-tosses. Graeme Cremer went around the wicket to try and take the ball away from the right-hander. Shahzad shuffled across, bent down on one knee and slog-swept him either to or over the midwicket boundary. Runs were spewing and Zimbabwe's bowlers had no answers. Shahzad tucked and guided two successive balls to get the three required to take him to another ton, and the joy was evident in his celebration as he removed his helmet and did the sajda.

In the rare event when the bowlers created opportunities, the fielders let them down. At least three chances were spilled, including two of Shahzad - one a hard running catch at long-on was parried to the boundary and another a sitter by wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami, who failed to get much glove on a skier. Shahzad was given another reprieve in the 16th over, on 101. Nabi called him through for a quick single but Shahzad had failed to make his ground at the striker's end when the bails were whipped off. The third umpire was not called in to adjudicate.

Shahzad had already laid the platform for the other batsmen to launch from the get-go. Despite many struggling for timing, each batsman, barring Ghani, boasted a strike-rate over 130 and struck at least one boundary.

Zimbabwe, who have never won a T20 series comprising more than one game, were never really in the hunt from the start of the chase. Save Hamilton Masakadza, the rest of the top six contributed a total of five runs, as Zimbabwe slumped to 34 for 5 in the sixth over. Mutumbami and Sikandar Raza were comfortably stumped off deliveries that slid in with the arm and sneaked through the inside edge. Malcolm Waller misjudged a skidder and captain Elton Chigumbura was run-out after naughtily looking for a run during an lbw appeal. The chase was done.

Masakadza and Peter Moor combined well to prove that run-scoring on this wicket was not a one-way street. The pair displayed a range of strokes and almost found a boundary every over, even as the required run rate touched 20. Masakadza, who has been Zimbabwe's best batsman on the tour, looked comfortable for the duration of his stay, and found boundaries frequently. He lofted a Dawlat Zadran delivery with such splendid timing that it left the ground over the midwicket boundary, which was the six that took him past Chigumbura for most sixes in T20Is from a Zimbabwe batsman.


Masakadza struck his eighth T20 fifty, but it barely had any impact on the game. By the time he was bowled for 63, an innings that featured two fours and five sixes, Zimbabwe still required 102 from 26 balls. The lower order could not achieve much, and slogged their way into the hands of fielders. Zimbabwe's misery was ended when a casual Tendai Chisoro was run out after failing to ground his bat despite making his ground.

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