Afghanistan defeated Zimbabwe by 60 runs in the first ODI of three-match series in Harare on Saturday. Here in this article, we have talked about AFG vs ZIM 1st ODI Match highlights.
AFG vs ZIM 1st ODI Match highlights:
Afghanistan hasn’t lost an ODI series against Zimbabwe in five matches since the first match in 2014, and it reasserted its status as series favourites with a good performance in the series opener.
The Afghans totalled 276-5 before bowling out the host for 216. The star of the day for Afghanistan were Rahmat Shah, who hit 94 to help his team reach 276, and Mohammad Nabi, who took four wickets to hand Afghanistan a comprehensive win over Zimbabwe.
The 277 runs target was not that difficult but Afghanistan spinners took full control of the Zimbabweans innings and even after 100 in halfway stage with 7 wickets in hand, the host team couldn’t manage to reach the target.
Sikandar Raza scored the highest run among Zimbabwe batters. He posted 67 runs in 78 balls with a strike rate of 85.90, including 6 fours and 1 maximum.
Earlier, Afghanistan witnessed a dreary start as they lost their first two wickets at just 38 runs, but Rahmat Shah and the skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi steadied their ship and added 181 runs for the third wicket to help their team reach a good total.
Rahmat Shah missed the century by 6 runs as he was out on 94, while the skipper Shahidi scored 88 from 104, including 13 boundaries.
Blessing Muzarabani dismissed both the set batters to bring back some momentum towards his side.
However, Rashid Khan was in some other mood and did the remaining work left by Shah and Shahidi in the death overs by smashing 39 runs of just 17 balls with the help of 4 fours and 2 sixes as Afghanistan posted 276/5 in 50 overs.
Afghanistan off-spinner Mohammad Nabi was the chief tormentor with 4-34, while spin master Rashid Khan and the pace battery Fazalhaq Farooqi bagged 2-2 wickets each.
The second game of the 3-match ODI series will be played at Harare Sports Club on Monday.
Player Of The Match – Rahmat Shah
