T20I Tri-series 2019, Match 2, Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe – Najibullah-Nabi's destructive partnership, Rashid's captaincy debut, Afghanistan's milestone win and more stats

Afghanistan kicked off with a convincing win in the T20I Tri-Series as they defeated Zimbabwe by 28 runs in Dhaka. After a quick-fire 24-ball 43 by Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the powerplay, the likes of Najibullah Zadran (69* off 30) and Mohammad Nabi (38 off 18) took the responsibility of the death overs to power the team towards a huge total.

They added 107 for the 5th wicket in only 40 balls and even hit seven consecutive sixes. 88 runs came in the last five overs as the Afghans finished with 197/5 on the board. Zimbabwe kept losing wickets and were never comfortable in the chase. The lower order’s contributions managed to reduce the losing margin.

All the statistical highlights from Afghanistan’s comfortable win over Zimbabwe:

Afghanistan @ 50:

50 – This was Afghanistan’s 50th win in the Twenty20 Internationals. They are the 8th team to win as many as 50 T20I matches. They got these in only 72 matches; the fewest any team has needed to reach 50 T20I wins.

The longest winning streak:

11* – Afghanistan extended their winning streak in the T20I format to 11 matches; the joint-most consecutive matches any team has won in this format. They also won 11 in a row between 2016 and 2017.

A record partnership:

107 – The partnership between Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi is the 2nd highest partnership for 5th wicket or lower wicket in T20I cricket. The highest is 119* between Shoaib Malik and Misbah-ul-Haq also for the 5th wicket in the WT20 2007 match against Australia.

16.05 – The run rate of Najibullah and Nabi’s partnership is 16.05; the 2nd highest in a 100-run stand in T20I cricket. Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head pair’s 3rd wicket partnership of 109 runs during the 2016 Pallekele T20I against Sri Lanka came in only 6.4 overs at a rate of 16.35.

The fastest fifty:

22 – Najibullah Zadran brought up his fifty in only 22 balls; the joint-fastest fifty in T20I cricket for Afghanistan. Hazratullah Zazai also scored a fifty in 22 balls against Ireland in the last year’s T20I match.

Rashid Khan – The T20I captain:

20y 359d – Rashid Khan led Afghanistan for the first time in the T20I format only a week before his 21st birthday. He is the 4th youngest captain in the T20I format. Rashid is the 2nd youngest captain to win a T20I. Razmal Shigiwal, aged 20 years and 318 days, became the youngest when he led Austria to a win over the Czech Republic during the last week of August.

The middle and lower orders’ contributions:

232 – A total of 232 runs were scored by both the teams after they lost their 4th wicket. These are the 3rd most runs aggregated for 5th or lower wicket in a T20I match. The 2015 Colombo T20I between Pakistan and Sri Lanka had 242 runs scored after the fall of 4th wicket. The first T20I match ever which was played between Australia and New Zealand at the Eden Park in 2005 recorded 237 runs scored after the 4th wicket.