daniel chigunwe
Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AFGHANISTAN completed a remarkable comeback to win the second cricket Test against Zimbabwe at Queens Sports Club yesterday.
A 72-run victory earned the tourists a 1-0 win in the two-match series, with the high-scoring opener ending in a draw.
On the morning of day three on Sunday, it seemed as if Zimbabwe had done just enough to win the New Year’s Day Test match; however, things would go south for the Chevrons, who ended up suffering a 72-run loss on the final day yesterday morning.
It only took Afghanistan 15 deliveries and 13 minutes on day five to take the two remaining wickets to win their first Test match since 2021 — which was also against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi and, effectively, the two-match series 1-0 after the run-fest first game ended as a draw.
The Chevrons, who enjoyed a second innings lead of 86 runs, had Afghanistan reeling on 69/5 on the morning of day three before two centuries from Rahmat Shah and debutant Ismat Alam swung the game back into the visitors’ favour.
The two centurions helped the visitors redeem themselves from their first innings woes with the bat to set a target of 278 runs for Zimbabwe, who would go on to be bundled out for 205 runs on the morning of day five.
Speaking after the end of the match, Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine said he feels that there are moments where he felt they could have won the game but failed to capitalise.
“There were definitely times in the game we could have capitalised properly, but we could not.
“We could have pushed that first-innings lead further. Certain areas we could have done better; Afghanistan played much better than us in this game.
“Going back to the first innings, getting them out for 150-odd, that was our opportunity to get above 300-350 and grow that lead.
“A lot of credit needs to go to Rahmat and Ismat, who brought the team back, and then Rashid with a seven-for, that was outstanding. Really promising signs for us. Really good that we are playing a lot of cricket; hopefully that continues.
“Lots of positives to take for a lot of guys. It has not been easy; only having two days between the tests has been hard, but I’m really proud of the way they stuck to their task,” said Ervine.
He added that they will return to franchise cricket as they start preparing for the Ireland series, which gets underway in early February.
“Franchise cricket for the next few weeks and after that, maybe they come back and go into camp a week before the next series,” he said.
Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi congratulated his side for a job well done.
“Congratulations to my entire team; I’m very happy with the way they performed. The first day was difficult for us; coming back from that was not easy. The team showed the spirit, and that showed we are mentally strong, and hopefully this works in the future as well. Credit goes to the entire team, but especially to Rahmat, Izmat, and Rashid.
“First of all, I will talk about Rahmat. He has always shown his talent when the team needs him. One of the best innings he has played in front of me. He (Izmat) has scored a lot of runs in first-class cricket.
“We played a lot of first-class cricket this year, and that helped us to pick players and made him mature. The first innings was difficult for him, and coming back from that was not easy, but he was very happy (for him). His father was one of the founders of Afghanistan cricket, and now, his son is rising and playing for his country, making it special,” said Shahidi.
He added, “The way we played in this series was very good. It was a good learning experience for us moving forward, and hopefully we learn from this, work harder, and I know the Afghanistan team have the talent to beat every side.”
It was Rashid Khan — playing in his first Test match since 2021 — that did the damage for the visitors.
Zimbabwean batters had no answers for the 26-year-old leg spinner, who finished with match figures of 11/160, including career-best innings figures of 7/66 in the second innings.
Chasing a target of 278 runs for victory, with five sessions to do so, only one batter put up a fight for Zimbabwe. It was the skipper — the last wicket to fall — who kept Afghanistan at bay with a gritty 53 runs.
The Chevrons started the chase after tea on day four with Ben Curran and Joylord Gumbie opening the batting for the hosts.
The openers had a 43-run stand for the first wicket before Gumbie was caught attempting a reverse sweep, de-parting for 15 runs off 45 balls.
Zimbabwe added another 20 runs to the total before Ben Curran was bowled by Khan for 38 runs.
Takudzwanashe Kaitano was Khan’s next victim, caught for 21 runs off 56 balls.
Dion Myers’s poor run of form continued, as he was trapped in front for just six runs by Khan again.
There was some resistance from Ervine and Sikandar Raza, who put together a 58-run partnership for the fifth wicket, before Raza was caught for 38 runs off 83 balls.
It was in the 59th over that things took a turn for the hosts, with Khan striking twice in three balls. He bowled Sean Williams for 16 runs off 25 balls, and two balls later, bowled Brian Bennett for a two-ball duck.
In the next over, Newman Nyamhuri was trapped in front for a two-ball duck by Zia-ur-Rehman, leaving Zimbabwe reeling at 178/8, needing 100 runs to win.
Ervine went on to reach his half-century while batting with Ngarava, who finished the day on three runs from 17 balls. Ervine ended the day on 53 runs from 97 balls.
Zimbabwe resumed day five with an overnight score of 205/8, and Ngarava managed to survive the first over of the day, which was bowled by Khan.
He would, however, be run out in the third ball of the next over, falling for three runs off 23 balls.
Khan rounded off things in the following over, trapping Ervine in front for his overnight score of 53.
Zimbabwe didn’t score any runs on day five.
For his wizardry with the ball, Khan was named player of the match while Shah was named player of the series for scoring 392 runs at 130.66.
Zimbabwe’s next assignment is a full series against Ireland, which starts off with a one-off Test in Bulawayo before action shifts to Harare for three ODIs and as many T20Is.
