Twitter Reactions: Ibrahim Zadran's unbeaten century helps Afghanistan clinch series

Afghanistan  got the better of Zimbabwe by eight wickets in the second One Day International at the Harare Sports Club on June 6. By virtue of this win, the Afghans have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Even though the hosts batted first on this occasion, they found themselves at the receiving end yet again.

A not-so-impressive batting performance somehow ensured that Zimbabwe crawled their way to 228 and the onus was on their bowlers to do something extraordinary in order to keep the series alive. However, that was not to be as Afghanistan outplayed them even in the batting department courtesy of fine knocks from two of their top batters who ensured that the visitors reached the target without breaking any sweat.

Afghanistan outclass Zimbabwe to win the ODI series

Earlier in the day, Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi won an important toss and elected to bowl first. They picked up the wicket of opener Regis Chakabva for a silver duck before Innocent Kaia and captain Craig Ervine carried out the rescue act with a small partnership.

Ervine was caught plumb in front of the wicket by Fareed Ahmad, but Innocent, who has been one of Zimbabwe’s most consistent performers in the last couple of months, carried on with his momentum and scored a vital half-century before being sent back for 63.Star all-rounder Sikandar Raza made his presence felt with a 40, and an important unbeaten 51 from Ryan Burl towards the end took Zimbabwe to 228.

In order to level the series, all that the Zimbabwe bowlers needed to do was to contain the hard-hitting Afghani batters, but they could not. While the opening bowler Blessing Muzarabani succeeded in getting the Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz early, that was the only relief that they got as Rahmat Shah and Ibrahim Zadran attacked them and took the match away from the hosts. The duo added 195 runs for the second wicket stand as the visitors got past the finish line in the 45th over. Zadran remained unbeaten on 120 while Shah played a great supporting knock of 88.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: