Twitter Reactions: Afghanistan scripts a stunning victory over Zimbabwe by 6 wickets

The two-match Test series between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe ended up in a draw as the Afghan side registered a stunning victory in the last Test of the two-match series at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 6 wickets. The first Test hosted in the same venue was won by Zimbabwe by 10 wickets and thus the series is leveled at 1-1.

The second Test commenced with Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan winning the toss and inviting the opposition to bowl first. In the first innings, Afghanistan launched an attack on Zimbabwe bowlers as they managed to put up a massive total of 545 runs on the board. Hashmatullah Shahidi emerged as the wrecker-in-chief for his team as he remained not out with a sublime knock of 200 runs off 443 deliveries.

Apart from his skipper also played a crucial role by adding a stunning 164 runs to the scoreboard while the opening batsman Ibrahim Zadran also had a decent outing with 72 runs under his belt. In reply to 545 posted by the Afgan side, Zimbabwe collapsed at a mere 287 as they lost all their ten wickets within 91.3 overs.

Sikandar Raza was the highest run-getter with 85 runs while the ace spinner Rashid Khan shined with the ball for Afghanistan by picking as many as 4 wickets. In addition, Amir Hamza scalped three wickets while Sayed Shirzad had two under his belt.

Rashid Khan rattles the Zimbabwe batting line-up

Asked to follow-on, Zimbabwe flattened in their second batting innings too as they failed to produce a comprehensive total on the board. Though the captain Sean Williams tried to keep his team alive in the hunt by playing a scintillating knock of 151 runs off 309 deliveries, no other batsmen took the responsibility to score runs.

Rashid Khan once again shined with the ball as he successfully shattered the opposition batting line-up. Khan ended up with a whopping 7 wickets under his name after bowling as many as 62.5 overs. Apart from him, Shirzad, Amir Hamza and Javed Ahmadi picked one wicket each.

Owing to the heroics of Rashid, Afghanistan had to score just 108 runs in the fourth innings to script a victory. The team had a torrid start to their batting innings as Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani picked the wicket of Javed Ahmadi in the first over only. However, Ibrahim and Rahmat Shah stitched a match-defining partnership of 81 runs to take Afghanistan close to the victory. 

In the end, Afghanistan won the game by 6 wickets as Rahmat played a match-defining knock of 58 runs.

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