Online Reporter
Brandon Moyo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
ON the morning of day three, it seemed as if Zimbabwe had done just enough to win the New Year’s Day Test match.
But, things went south for the Chevrons who ended up suffering a 72-run defeat 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.
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.
Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine said:
“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.
“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 am really proud of the way they stuck to their task.”
He added that they will return to franchise cricket as they start preparing for the Ireland series which gets underway next month.
Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi congratulated his side.
“Congratulations to my entire team, very happy with the way they performed. The first day was difficult for us, coming back from that was not easy.
“The team showed 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.”
