Zimbabwe v Afghanistan 2nd T20I: Afghanistan clinch the T20I series

Zimbabwe v Afghanistan 2nd T20I: Afghanistan clinch the T20I series: For Afghanistan, the 2nd T20I between was yet another chance to create history. A clean sweep in the T20Is would have earned them their first major Twenty20I series victory a full member Test playing nation and they did exactly the same today. And by securing a thrilling win today, they win the 2-T20I series 2-0.

Elton Chigumbura won the toss and decided to bat first. The skipper showed confidence on his batsmen. But, they were shaken right at the start by Afghan pacer Dawlat Zadran. Chamu Chibhabha, who hit a half-century in the last match, was cleaned bowled in the very first over of the match. The start was an ominous one as whenever the openers have failed in the series, the team has failed badly.

After Sikandar Raza also departed early, Sean Williams (54 runs from 26 balls) and R. Mutumbami (43 runs from 33 balls) took the job in their hands and made sure the home team had a substantial score on the board. Middle order batsman Elton Chigumbura also contributed with 33 runs off 28 balls.

Zimbabwe had performed well above the expectations and eventually, with the combined efforts of these batsmen, Zimbabwe posted a highly competitive match- total of 190/7 in the stipulated 20 overs.

Dawlat Zadran yet again bowled a fiery spell, ending with the figures of 2/24. Gulbadin Naib (2/26) was also very impressive. Apart from them, all other bowlers had become a subject of harsh treatment from Zimbabwe batsmen. Amir Hamza (2/40) and young leg-spinner Rashid Khan (1/50) in particular gave away runs at more than 13 runs per over.

Afghanistan’s reply to this imposing total was a cracking one. Usman Ghani, playing only his 2nd T20I, smashed his maiden half century in just 32 balls. He took the Afghanistan total to a blazing 84/0 after 10 overs combining with Mohammad Shahzad (24 runs from 20 balls).

However, there was an interesting twist in the match. In the 11th over, the onslaught by Afghanistan openers was put to an end within no time when Chamu Chibhabha delivered back to back blows. In spite of such wonderful start, the job was still incomplete; Afghanistan still had a mounting task of chasing 96 runs from 9 overs with two new batsmen on the crease.

But, Zimbabwe also knew that this was their opening and tried to crawl back into the game with wickets of Mohammad Nabi (15 runs from 11 balls) and Najibullah Zadran (2 runs from 4 balls).

However, Gulbadin Naib (56* runs from 31 balls), with a determined effort took over responsibility and ensured that Afghanistan do not fall short of creating history one more time. He registered his first T20 fifty. Karim Sadiq (11 runs from 5 balls) played good a crucial knock with Gulbadin Naib.

The match went to the last over with 9 runs required. The Afghan fans had their hearts in their mouth when Karim Sadiq was run out just at the crunch moment in the game.

However, the well set Naib and new batsman Shafiqullah managed to take their team over the finish line with Naib hitting the winning runs.

This series can surely be held as the cricketing revolution of Afghanistan. With this, they have taken a giant leap in international cricket.

Brief Scores:

Zimbabwe – 190/7 in 20 overs (Sean Williams 54; Dawlat Zadran 2/24)

Afghanistan – 191/5 in 19.5 overs (Usman Ghani, G Nabi 56; C Chibhabha 2/37)

Afghanistan won by 5 wickets with 1 ball remaining

Man of the Match – Gulbadin Naib (Afghanistan)

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